Lily the Black BearThe day started with a call before 7 AM that Lily and cubs were at a feeding station. We hurried over. It was a satisfying time seeing the bear that brought so many of us together.
Through the midday period when few bears visit, we checked out life on the lake and had the best photo opportunities with loons I have ever had—parents with two chicks only a few days old riding on the back of one of them in good light that brought out the subtle colors of the head and neck of the parent. They had seen enough boats that they ignored the slow-moving pontoon boat and swam very near it. We all snapped away as they came close, as a parent brought food to the chicks, and as they just went about their business.
Loon faceToday, media interest shifted from radio-collars to Den Cams, which likely will become the main story as we resume studies of the least studied half of black bear life and give the world (including hundreds of schools) the chance to learn directly from bears.
Things may work out well after all that’s happened the last couple years. It’s ironic, in a way, because I was ready to comply with the DNR order to remove our radio-collars back in June 2013, but they waged such a campaign of lies about our work in their effort to publicly discredit us that I eventually felt we needed to respond. They wouldn’t sit down and discuss anything, forcing us to go through a terrible time of legal wrangling that temporarily distracted us from our path of science and education and essentially broke us financially. At the same time, the DNR elected to spend $430,000 of their wildlife money to stop our research rather than using the money to benefit wildlife. They then spent more on the appeal—not in the interest of wildlife, bears, science, education, or the region. We believe they will expose their true motives as we follow our mission. We very much wish they would work with us in the interests of the things I just mentioned. We thank the judges for seeing the value of our research and including this opportunity for science and education in their decision.
Loon and chickWe thank Lily Fans for all you have done along the way, including the support you gave so generously in the face of this abuse of governmental power.
The day ended with another call to see Lily and cubs plus a call to see Shadow and her cub. We thank the neighborhood for this cooperation. Shadow, of course, is the 28-year-old matriarch of the clan we are studying. Shadow is a prime example a bear that has spent her life raising litter after litter (26 cubs) in and around this community without generating a complaint that we have ever heard of. She has had more time to become accustomed to people, yet she doesn’t approach people for food as the DNR claims we train the bears to do. Truth will win in the end.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.