Deer coming through snow The name Holly took on a life of its own. The new little female went from “her” to “Holly” by acclamation. We saw your concerns that Holly sounds too much like Honey and the wrong bear could come if we were calling the other, but in asking Lily Fans today about other good names, person after person said it was too late to change it—it’s Holly. Maybe it was meant to be. We like the scripture “All things work together for good.” Maybe the good in this is that if we call Honey and they both come for a treat, we just need to have enough for both. So the little bear’s name became Holly sooner than we intended, but that means she can be identified by name in press releases and people can start getting to know her by name a little sooner. Again, the scripture often seems to be the way things work for us, and we’re thankful for it.
We also saw your suggestion to make Ted’s small holding pen bigger as long as we are building another pen anyway. We like that idea if we can afford it at this time of other unforeseen expenses. We also have other ideas for fencing.
White-tailed deerWe don’t know how the bears will all get along, of course. We remember Lucky’s first months of running from Ted’s friendly advances and Honey’s ‘words’ to stay out of her way. Lucky became a quick tree-climber and spent a lot of time up the big white pine that many will remember from 2007. Lucky slowly integrated. He became Ted’s buddy and playmate. He became Honey’s den mate at her invitation. Eventually, he became Ted’s rival, which means we have to let Ted and Lucky out of their holding areas one at a time. We want little Holly to be safe, have access to food, and have people learn from her a little more of what black bears are really like.
Soft landingWe want to gradually introduce Holly to Ted, Lucky, and Honey. This winter they will all be in their separate places. By spring, we’ll have an idea how she will relate to us. If she will follow us, we’ll take her to meet Ted and Lucky through their fences. We are expecting musical, friendly grunts from Ted. We’ll see how Holly reacts. We don’t know if Lucky will be that overtly friendly, but we expect no problem. We want to walk Holly all over the enclosure so she learns all the refuge trees. We want to give her time alone to explore while the others are not out and about. We want her to feel secure in the main feeding area down in front. We planted a cedar tree there that she can climb for refuge if she feels the need. We may place food high in the tree for her. Whatever is needed. The bears will tell us. We may make another window den, smaller, with a Holly-sized entrance, for her to retreat to if she needs time before feeling secure in her relationships with such big bears. We may put a temporary tall fence around the cedar tree for Holly. It took Lucky 2-3 months to feel confident around them, even around gentle, friendly Ted. Holly is bigger and may integrate sooner. We’ll do some or all of what we mentioned here, depending upon what we see. Each bear is different. We’ll see what is needed for these 4 to be comfortable. We’re thankful we have a big forest within the enclosure.
Holly's trip continuesWhen we agreed to take Holly, we pledged confidentiality about Holly’s beginnings, where she was from, etc. They gave us good reasons to hold that confidentiality for the good of Holly and out of respect for the agency. No matter what information or rumors are put out by people who would disregard the welfare of Holly, we will not confirm nor deny it. Once we gave our word of confidentiality, we were bound to stick to it.
Thank you for the help you are giving toward her transportation and living quarters. On this Christmas Eve, we eagerly follow Holly’s journey toward Ely and anticipate her arrival later this week. We are delighted to give this little bear a home.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center