At 11:11 AM on 11-11-11 we were organizing data and preparing to get more data. We called the landowners where 11-year-old Dot is denned and got permission to go on their land if a Den Cam is feasible there.
Then we checked possibilities for 8-year-old Juliet’s den and think it might be a better choice. We’ll see what the landowners say.
We had a good teleconference today as a step toward re-grouping the international team for creating the den cams. These are the same people we worked with the last couple years, but we lack a technician who knows enough about computers and electronics to do what Jason did last winter.
On the internet, it was nice to read that the Florida Wildlife Commission is portraying Florida’s growing number of black bears as animals the public is accepting and is looking for public input on bear management at http://myfwc.com/news/news-releases/2011/november/10/bear-plan/.
It was also nice to see an interview by top horse communicator Mark Peterson crediting Lynn as his mentor at http://www.4theride.com/who-is-mark-peterson/. Mark and Lynn share the view that the gentle approach is best—be it horses or bears. An interview of Lynn about Mark at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqMitjn6iVk tells more.
Someone asked how the Bear Center would use money donated through Give MN “Give to the Max Day” on November 16. If donations come anywhere close to last year’s, together with the matching money plus prize money up to $15,000 if we are a leader, it will easily wipe out the remaining $9,833 debt and give a good start to expanding the educational mission, including the Education Outreach Program. Education of the public and students is the key to coexistence and the key to respect for bears worldwide. The more people know about bears, the more willing they become to coexist with them and the less likely they will be to engage in cruel treatment of bears. It is extremely important to replace misconceptions with scientific facts about these misunderstood living beings. Many older people will never give up their ferocious image of bears. They’ve held it too long, but children can learn the truth from the bears themselves through our den cams, videos, documentaries, etc. The Educational Outreach Program could become bigger than the Bear Center itself.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center