Cubs mistake Lily for a treeLily stands for long periods outside her den looking around and sniffing. Would she like to be on the move? She hesitates to step on the crunchy snow just like Ted has been doing. We wish we could get a good look at her footpads to see if they look like Ted’s. More snow is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon, 80% chance) and for the 2 days after that. Can the bears wait for better weather on the weekend?
Jewel outside her denJewel and yearlings were out eating snow today and maybe licking up snow fleas. Those watching Jewel’s PTZ likely saw some erratic movements as we attempted to position the camera and zoom in to see what they were doing. We tried hard but still came to a ‘maybe’ conclusion.
Eli hangs outAt the Bear Center, Ted checked on Honey in the wooden window den. Honey told him not to come in. Later, she took a walk and Ted crawled in. This afternoon, the staff walked Ted up to his chalet, locked him in, and opened Lucky’s door. Later, when Lucky came down to the scale he was slow moving and looked sleepy. All 3 bears got lettuce and carrots.
Lucky climbs a cedar treeThe day ended with Honey back in her wooden window den and Lucky showing a burst of energy climbing a cedar tree. Cedar trees have the kind of bark for good climbing, and Lucky leaped partway up and then climbed like a flash. Cedars are generally their second favorite climbing tree after white pine.
Lucky's claw marks on the cedarA high point today was talking with an animal behaviorist with 60 years of experience—Louis Dorfman. He’s an expert on captive animals. We called him because his writings on animal traits, enrichment, and how he interacts with animals, made sense. We thought we were calling him out of the blue. We’d forgotten Louis had called us in 2010 to offer sanctuary for Hope when Lily abandoned her. He was short of time today, so we arranged to talk again in a week or so.
Lily hangs outSpecial thanks to the volunteers who alerted us to the computer issues with our automated membership renewal reminders!
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.