Oliana - July 14, 2012Oliana was in cover so dense we couldn’t see below our waists. The sounds of anything thrashing through a tangle of hazelnut bushes and vines is scary for black bears. We knew from her radio-signal that she was so close we normally would see her. But under these circumstances she retreated to the nearest big tree in a more open area where she could see us coming. When she saw it was us, she lay down by the tree.
Oliana loved her medicine, or at least the sweetened condensed milk part. The saying “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” is certainly true for bears. It worked with BB King in 2009, with June last summer, and with Oliana this year.
Then we counted her breaths and heart beats. It was so hot that she was panting at a rate of nearly once per second, but her heart rate was only 112 per minute—probably the lowest we have recorded for her.
The permanent memorial a group of Lily Fans made for Hope has been placed in the Grasshopper Section of the Maze Garden at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in St. Paul, MN. Hope will never be forgotten. She brought us together. She brought joy. She brought sadness. She galvanized the biggest education outreach effort ever done for bears. And it is still in the beginning stages. The Speakers Bureau is growing. Volunteer Applications are multiplying, and plans are coming together for the Hope Education Building as part of the North American Bear Center. The multi-media classroom in that building will educate busloads of students. The added office space will enable us to increase our educational outreach.
Tables located in the Bear Center during the Lilypad Picnic will provide information and opportunities to join the Speakers Bureau, fill out Volunteer Applications, and more. So much is happening.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center