Path to bear enclosuresA blizzard on April 19 and minus 9F this morning? What’s a bear to do when their bodies say it’s time to get up and go? The beautiful blue sky today might give them some hope.
John snowblowing at Bear Center The video last night of Ellie and Eli finding a way to release their energy was terrific! We’ve never seen anything like that in these four years of Den Cams. Likely, no one has seen anything like that in any wild den, because bears wouldn’t do that with a stranger looking in. These last four years, the Den Cams have been so enlightening about the hidden half of black bear life. So much was/is counter to anything we’d heard or thought. We look forward to publishing what we’ve all seen. Lily surprised us today by climbing up into the attic space and out the top of the den!
Ted doesn't know what to make of itAlong that line, we somehow missed an article in the Mesabi Daily News on March 25 that tells things how they are about Lily and all at http://www.virginiamn.com/search/?t=article&d1=1+year+ago&q=Lily%27s+Den+Cam.
NABC Nature Trail is snowed inWe also missed an article in the Duluth News Tribune on March 31 about the big bear by its culvert den in Duluth—Drowsy bear draws a crowd along Duluth Lakewalk—but it’s now only available to subscribers. It showed how joggers and walkers went by all day accepting the bear and the bear accepting and mostly ignoring them. 
Snow on Lily's den sags in bright sunA policeman tried to scare the bear with an air horn to no avail—just another human noise in a noisy city. We’re glad the bear didn’t run away. Where would he have gone that was better than sitting outside his den? We laud the policeman for not shooting the bear. 
Lily's cubs play on the denPeople have come a long way since the days of shooting bears on sight out of misplaced fear. The old bear has lived in and around Duluth for 10-15 years, apparently without problem.
Lily's foot dangles as she climbs UPAnother nice thing was a link about an upcoming program that Chris Morgan sent us today; http://tinyurl.com/Great-Bear-Stakeout. Lynn and Chris shared the bear-viewing boat “Kittiwake” a few years back, and he provided some bear footage for an exhibit at the Bear Center. The email was about an upcoming program “Bear Stake-Out” that should be good for bears. It includes top bear guides John Rogers, Brad Josephs, and Buck Wilde (www.katmaibears.com). 
Lily comes out the top of the denBuck authored two of the articles in the Lily Fan book “Bear Encounters.” All 3 of these men know brown bears well—very well—from walking among them for a decade or more without a problem. People who accompany these guides come back talking about life-changing experiences and anxious to spread the word. We hope the producers of the two 1-hour specials will resist the urge to sensationalize their encounters and let the bears change the attitudes of millions.
Cub anticsWe also saw a great, peer-reviewed article in Human-Wildlife Interactions Journal today by Dr. Steve Stringham. The article was on managing risk from bears and was in response to brutal policies agencies have adopted toward bears and other wildlife after a jury awarded liability damages of two million dollars to a couple whose son was killed by a black bear in a campground in Utah a few years back. One of Steve’s recommendations was that “A species, such as bear, should not be killed to increase public safety unless it poses a substantive risk and not merely pro forma because someone was frightened by the animal.” The complete article is at http://www.berrymaninstitute.org/journal/spring2013/HWI_7.1_pp5-9_small.pdf.
Microphone tube occupies cubAs people learn more about bears, and as Lily Fans and others spread the word, attitudes toward bears are becoming more realistic.
We filled this summer's Black Bear Field Study Courses from last year's waiting lists. The courses are now online and the waiting lists are open; http://www.bearstudy.org/website/bear-course-registration.html. If you'd like to participate in a bear course this summer or next (2014), please sign up for one of the waiting lists.
Videos of Lily and cubs from yesterday are Part I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxCQxKsb_vI, and Part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWlca6e_80Y.
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.