June used this den 4 times Emotions ran high today as memories of June were brought into focus by a major network contacting us about doing a 1-hour documentary on a bear with a history—a bear with a story to tell the world. It would be a true story of an animal with no people—a documentary we often wished would happen with June and her 10-years of data.
We were also thinking about Den Cams today, which again brought us to June. It hit us that there will never be a Den Cam with her. Each year, we had wanted to place a Den Cam in her den but couldn’t because of where she chose to den. June was the bear that first showed us how mothers care for cubs. She was the bear that trusted and ignored us back in 2007 when we spent hours at the entrance to her den, either watching or video-taping. The videos were dynamite in changing the thinking about life in the den. The videos of June appeared on 9 television programs that year—a major educational opportunity. Not as big as Lily and Hope in 2010, of course, but millions gained a new perspective on what black bears are really like.
Education is needed more than ever. We want the focus of donations for GiveMN to be the Hope Learning Center. That means giving to the North American Bear Center (which includes the HLC), not to the Wildlife Research Institute in this year’s Give to the Max Day on November 14. Giving to the single organization will maximize chances of the Bear Center (and its HLC) claiming the bonus prizes GiveMN is offering this year (see last night’s update).
A question from last night’s update was about the Power Hours. The hours are Central Standard Time and are the hours starting at 2 AM, 5 AM, 6 PM and 11 PM. People are setting their alarm clocks.
Matching donations are coming in.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center