Lynn, June, and Sue After the news yesterday, our visit to gentle June was with mixed emotions. She is the bear we have spent the most time with, feel most comfortable with, and have gotten the most information from—and we can’t even take credit for the initial trust that allowed all this to be possible. We hardly saw her as a cub and yearling. She became calm with people at a couple other feeding stations and has the naturally calm disposition that allowed Sue to walk with her the first time she tried in 2004 when June was 3. Very unusual. Now June spends more time in inaccessible areas away from people than any other bear except maybe Faith.
JuneWe’ve been wondering what’s keeping the bears so occupied that they are hardly coming to feeding stations. Faith hasn’t even come anywhere near a building yet this year, so she hasn’t visited a feeding station. June has—maybe once or twice. What are the bears eating now? Today, June showed us—ant pupae.
Sue and Charlie check out bear signCharlie Russell came along with us to locate June and change her GPS unit. We came upon June’s family as they were tearing apart logs. They all ran. We briefly saw June’s face looking back as a cub ran to catch up. They must have heard “It’s me bear,” but with the cubs June wasn’t taking any chances. They ran for dense cover. June then circled downwind to verify what she had heard and continued on to check our backtrail. While Lynn was getting out the telemetry equipment to see where she had disappeared to, Charlie noticed her coming up behind us. We’d passed muster. We did our quick work on her collar and checked her heart rate (82, same as Lily’s the other day).
UrsulaSue has never had her picture taken with this bear she has spent so much time with. We remedied that. Charlie took pictures of both of us with June, too. We also photographed June alone. Each time we see June now could be our last.
AsterWhile we were with June, a rumor reached us that the DNR may have just shot a nuisance collared bear in the Bear Head Lake State Park. June and Aster are the radio-collared ‘State Park’ bears. We were with June at the time, so we knew she was fine. We worried about Aster. Sue called the local conservation officer and left a message. We received no call back. We tracked Aster down and she was fine as well. We changed her GPS unit to get her back on the map. It seems the rumor was just that—a rumor.
Lynn signs camper's backpack - June 28, 2013At the Bear Center yesterday, the kids in Camp Bear Paw made our hearts sing with their enthusiasm. The pictures show Lynn signing one’s shoulder bag and listening to the bear story she wrote. She also made a clay model of a bear with a radio-collar after completing the radio-tracking segment.
Lynn listens to story - June 28, 2013We appreciate the support Lily Fans are showing in our permit situation. The petition you came up with can’t hurt. It’s at http://www.change.org/petitions/gov-dayton-sen-franken-sen-klobuchar-rep-nolan-of-minnesota-reinstate-dr-lynn-rogers-permit-to-conduct-research-on-black-bears.
The MN DNR has made wild accusations in their media statements to sway public opinion. They're citing exaggerated instances from 1-8 years ago as if they are current reasons for pulling our permit. Most people are wondering where all the bears are this year.
LilyAs detailed in our Permit Perspectives June 2013 document, this is simply a case of “kill the messenger” for studying the results of feeding that began in 1961. Habituated bears have long been a part of this community that peacefully coexists with them in most cases. The DNR found some exceptions in its effort to build a “case,” any case, against our research. Pulling our permit and setting up the research bears to be killed was drastic and unnecessary. 
Lynn and Lily The DNR is accountable only to the governor, and Governor Dayton is letting Commissioner Landwehr do what he sees fit. DNR comments to the media that they are doing this to protect public safety resonates with the public, of course, considering that most of the public fears bears and are unaware of the facts (or lack of facts) of this “case” the DNR is building. We’re at a loss here.
At the same time, a Lily Fan couple let us know that the first piece of the new Northwoods Ecology Exhibit will be arriving in a couple weeks—the full-bodied bull moose they promised.
Lynn is feeling lost without his cell phone. It didn’t survive Thursday’s river crossing and downpour.
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.