Braveheart - October 4, 2011Lily and Faith spent the day in a dense cedar swamp. They are not near any den we know of but may be checking out a possible den under the roots of a downed cedar.
Braveheart needed her GPS batteries changed today, so we joined her in an alder/willow swamp at midday. The cubs melted off into the vegetation before we arrived. Calm Braveheart didn’t even look at us as we approached. Her attention was on the cubs. Her fur was hot to the touch on this sunny, calm, 79-degree day. Her heart rate is now down to 54/minute and irregular with frequent pauses of about 2 seconds. She was a sweetheart. The cubs eventually realized it was us and returned. They were sweethearts, too. They are still in the swamp at this moment.
We don’t expect to see Donna and cubs until spring. She has done this before—removed her radio-collar and simply disappeared for months or nearly a year. We have learned not to worry.
June and cubs are still within 150 yards of the den they know but haven’t visited yet.
The Ely Echo newspaper says, “It appears Soudan got a giant boost from internet fans of the area research bears. Fans of the bears from across the country and beyond have been pivotal in securing votes for Ely area causes in a series of online contests.” People are recognizing your efforts and the benefits of the research bears to the area.
There is momentum for a bronze life-sized statue of Hope. There might be a question of whether it should be of her the size she was this summer or if it should be of her when she was on her own making a reputation and stealing our hearts.
We’re getting positive feedback for a fund to memorialize Hope and keep her message alive into the future. The fund might be called the Hope Foundation, the Hope Legacy Fund, the Hope Scholarship Fund, or something like that.
There is enthusiasm in some circles for a renewed protection campaign in Hope’s name, but we don’t think it would help. The DNR blew off our best effort and is now threatening our research permit and the bears. They hold total power. There is no recourse regarding anything they might do. They don’t like protection campaigns. We thank them for asking hunters not to shoot radio-collared bears. We thank the group that put up the $5,000 drawing for licensed hunters if no radio-collared bear in this study were shot, and it is looking like none will be. We are tired, feeling a huge loss about Hope, and feeling relief about being so close to the end of bear-hunting (October 16) with no radio-collared bear shot. It’s been grueling and tense.
It was a joy to see so many uplifting comments on Lily’s Facebook page today. It’s still an emotional time. People still cannot hold back the tears when talking about Hope. They say time heals, but this one will take a lot of time for many of us.
Another video of Lily and Faith from Sept 30 has been posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwukTATZw6c.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center