Lily - June 20, 2012This rainy day turned into a day of meetings. All much needed stuff, but it took us away from bears. Topics included permits for the new building, finalizing a loan for the new building, how to resolve our video storage limitations, and how to better educate kids at the Bear Center.
For the latter, one thing we’re planning is to revise the Cub Room, walling off a 12’ x 18’ room for special supervised learning. We are looking for ideas, especially from teachers, on how to engage young students and maximize experiences. We are thinking of buying several good microscopes with cameras and connections to a big monitor on the wall so everyone can see what is on the microscope. We are accumulating items for young students to examine. Maybe they can take pictures home with them to show their friends and families.
Log torn apart for grubs or ant pupae - June 20, 2012We are accumulating nature artifacts (including fur and bones) for students to examine. The learning includes bears, of course, but will include anything cool from the world of the bear. We’re looking for ideas, materials, and any way people can think to help. We’re thinking about Smart Boards. We want it all to be the best it can be, and that may mean something beyond what we can think of alone. Email ideas to
Now, we are going out to change GPS units on the collars of Lily and Jewel.
Jewel - June 20, 2012It’s 9:02 PM. We’re back. Lily was easy. She was near a forest road where 3 people were walking 2 big dogs. We told the people we were radio-tracking a bear. They sounded scared. We told them no problem. They walked on. We called to Lily. She was close, but she wouldn’t come. We were where the dogs had been. We circled around to a spot she would consider to be safer. She came immediately. We gave her a handful of hazelnuts, slipped in the new unit, and left. She appeared to be walking with us but paying no attention to us. We saw the van ahead. Was she going to check it out? No. She passed it by without a look. She was focused ahead. She just happened to be going the same direction we were and couldn’t care less that we were going that way, too.
On to Jewel. We homed in on her signal in the woods. We saw a log she had freshly torn to shreds for grubs or possibly ant pupae, although not an ant remained. Her signal was very close. Then we saw her in the dense, darkening forest. We moved to an opening where we’d have room to work. She knew us and came. We went through the same procedure as we’d done with Lily and left.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center