Lily's track Sue tried to intercept Lily and family to change Lily’s GPS batteries. It looked easy on the map. Lily was less than a half-mile down a walking trail. It got difficult.
Log torn apart by Lily, Ellie, and EliRain is predicted for tonight and the next two days and Lily’s batteries will run out during that time. We wanted to get them changed before the storm blew in. However, wind makes it hard to approach bears in the woods—and there was plenty of wind preceding the storm. Cubs generally tree when spooked, but yearlings are more apt to run—and run they did. We suspect Eli led the way, as he is the shyer one. Sue monitored Lily’s signal as it faded away. She checked Lily’s GPS readings and was surprised to find she had moved 0.8 miles in 21 minutes—back to their deep rock den.
Tracks of Lily and yearlingKnowing the yearlings would feel safe in their den, Sue again approached. Lily was outside the den but suspicious. They had just fled from some unknown danger. Lily recognized Sue but kept looking past her in the direction she’d come. Where was the danger? Hearing nothing in that direction, Lily eventually relaxed, came to Sue, and got her batteries changed.
Lily's tracks in snowJuliet and cubs were out of their den for several hours today but returned to it early this evening. Is it because of the wind and rain today? We’ll see what kind of weather brings them out and triggers travel.
A few weeks ago, Lily Fans made a huge effort to put us in the winner’s column in the race for $10,000 worth of website makeover. The goal was/is to position bear.org to be a stronger educational presence on the Internet. Lily Fans showed they/we are a force to reckon with. 
Lily & yearling tracks on iceThey put us into such a strong lead that we thought no one could overtake us. Suddenly, with the end of voting 18 hours away (noon on April 30), it’s turning into a race. Other organizations registered hundreds of votes each in the last few hours. It’s time to show the power of Lily Fans in a final push at http://woobox.com/e8jysv/vote/for/2164479. Each computer can only vote once. Thousands of Lily Fans have already voted. Can we ask everyone who has not yet voted to click on the link and register his or her vote before tomorrow noon, Wednesday, April 30?
The video of Aster taken April 26 is posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPL3LcX0I1E.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center