Lynn and Donna Rogers - Nov 3, 2012This was a great day. I woke up hearing Donna tell me how lucky she feels to be married to me. I tried to think what I’d done lately to hear that. Of course, I know I’m the lucky one and said that. As we made the bed together, which is unusual, I talked about what good practice it is to do it together so we can be good at it when we’re older and can’t do it alone, between her problems and my shoulder. Fun.
The day was one good thing after another. Next, I got a card saying that my old friends Bill and Keefer Irwin were helping to complete the Hope Learning Center by renewing my subscription to Nutrition Health Newsletter.
The next bonus on this red letter day was seeing the manuscript and pictures for “Finding Hope: A Story About Real Bears” by local Lily Fan Michelle Myers Lackner. We’ve been working together on this for a couple years. I okayed it for publication and learned it will come out in spring. We’ll have it in the Gift Store/Web Store. We’re proud of the book. Michelle knows Lily personally. Her book is illustrated totally with pictures of Lily and Hope from 2010 when it all was happening. We approved every word in this book for young readers.
Lunch (alone) at the Research Center made me thankful to several people. I made a week of lunches by mixing fried rice made by Sharon Herrell and a Lily Fan, chili made by Office Manager Heidi Schiltz’ husband, beef soup/stew brought over by neighbors Charlie and Jane Meyer, and some frozen mixed vegetables. It turned out super but impossible to replicate.
In the afternoon, a scholarship came together for the local high school called the North American Bear Center Wildlife Studies Award. It’s for students going into wildlife fields. This is another case of a Lily Fan coming through—the same Lily Fan who provided grant money for interns to help out at the Bear Center and Research Center.
Then I saw the new thermometer total for the Hope Learning Center building: $618,343! Thank you again! Nothing is perfect, though. Last night I said the new balance was less than $300,000. Anyone who can still add probably saw that it is really less than $400,000. We still have faith, though.
In Lucky, Part 4, Lucky’s life becomes more than we dared to dream for him.
Ted and Lucky make friends - Oct 6, 2007In September 2007, Lucky’s main caretakers returned to their home states, leaving Lucky without his best play partners. Who could be his next mother? Lucky made his own decision. He turned to big Ted who had been making overtures all summer. Ted would approach Lucky making his sweetest friendly sounds only to have Lucky leap up a tree. Finally, on October 3, 2007, with a big log between them for safety, Lucky almost touched noses with 850-pound Ted and got his first kiss when Ted extended his tongue as a sign of friendship. Lucky looked unsure what to do next. He ran up onto the rock over the rock cave with Ted close behind. From his position of safety, Lucky again approached as Donna Andrews documented in “Ted and Lucky Videos DVD” (Gift Shop/Web Store $7.50 Found here) and can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o44Hvt6wJ0U. They were on their way to fun and frolic.
Lucky remained cautious, though. For the next 3 weeks, he came close to Ted many times but ran whenever Ted moved toward him. The pictures show little Lucky being coy and cautious on October 6, 2007.
Ted and Lucky get closer - Oct 6, 2007Lucky was still desperate to play, and people still seemed to him to be his only safe outlet. In his exuberance with Donna Andrews and me, 50-pound Lucky sometimes bit too hard. I began to have second thoughts. Maybe Donna Andrews was right. Maybe Lucky wouldn’t outgrow his playfulness. Maybe it would be a danger. But I knew a man who raised orphaned cubs for release into the wild, and he had no problem playing with them. As the cubs grew to adulthood in the wild, play was what cemented their bonds each spring. The man told me it took a good play session before the bears would really relax with him. I also remembered my old friend Gerri, the only free-ranging bear that ever actually liked me. I remember how hard Gerri sometimes bit me as a cub and how gentle she became as a yearling and adult.
Donna was adamant, though. She had been bitten too hard. We called a top Hollywood bear trainer for another opinion. The trainer told us she places strict limits on her cubs about biting and even pepper sprays them to keep them in line. I wrote Donna a letter of apology and copied it to the staff which can be read here. I told them we would institute controls and Donna would take the lead. Part of my decision came from remembering a time when little Gerry had bit me way too hard in play (back in 1989) and I had cuffed her just as hard. I remembered how she came crawling back to me whimpering with her foster mother sitting beside me watching the whole scene play out without concern. My cuffing Gerri was no different than I’d seen wild mothers do a couple times. Gerri seemed to understand. Her reaction made me realize she actually had feelings for me. We have to do a series on Gerri sometime. At one point, I had cuffed Lucky, too, and it seemed to make a difference, although it was tough to tell when the really hard bites were so seldom. There was evidence for both sides, but I decided to side with Donna.
Lucky initiates play with Ted - Oct 27, 2007Our discussion became moot, though, on October 27 (2007) when fast-growing Lucky finally had the confidence to initiate play with 855-pound Ted, and Lucky found a play partner he preferred over both Donna and me. Donna’s video tells the story (as linked above). Once they began playing, Lucky’s trust of Ted grew quickly. Soon, he was playing on his back under Ted in vulnerable positions without a care. Touch is the universal language that is key to building trust with bears. It’s what we use to build the trust that allows us to put radio-collars on bears without tranquilizers.
For us and the public, seeing Lucky play with big Ted with such reckless abandon gave an indescribable feeling. Seeing the obvious fun that grew out of their trust was fulfilling even for us as spectators. The empathetic sounds from visitors showed they felt the same way. We knew how long Ted had wanted to play with little Lucky. We knew how strong the drive was for Lucky to play. We finally were seeing it happen between these two bears as it was supposed to be.
Lucky—Part 5, His First Hibernation will be tomorrow (probably).
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Welcome! Be sure to visit the NABC website as well.