Lily - July 8, 2012It’s the first day of the second Black Bear Field Study Course. Lily was on the 11th day of her GPS batteries and needed new ones. Her GPS locations showed she was approaching one of the few roads in the nether regions of her territory. We drove fast and homed in on her telemetry signals hoping to catch her before she crossed the road. Catching up to a bear with 8 course participants is about impossible if she is heading away. We got there too late. She had already crossed.
The patch of woods had big red pines and little understory other than grass and ferns. We knew we could make good time, so we gave it a try. We kept up the litany of “It’s me, bear,” etc. We could hardly believe it when the signal got louder faster than expected. Then we saw Lily running. She had heard the words and was running back, passing us by about 50 yards off to the side. She heard “It’s me, bear” and paused, gave a hard look, and ran on. She wasn’t about to come charging in without more verification.
She circled to our back trail and came on in, hesitantly at the end. Then everything seemed to click, and she came to Lynn and lay down. The battery change and heart rate went easily. She had recovered from her run and registered a calm 76/minute. She knew the program, showed trust, and ignored everyone as she did her part of eating some nuts as the work was done on her. Then she got up, walked off into the forest, and quietly disappeared. A good day.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center