Fellow researchers saw Lily and her cubs last night around midnight, so we know she is safe. Your food donations are helping.
Holly backing out of her dug den
At the Bear Center, Holly continues to dig. The first 1-minute video shows her digging. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS4JRuN-_ks. She looks small down in the den digging with only her hindquarters visible. Then the 2nd 1-minute video shows her coming up out of the den looking huge with all her fur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ddgwlnx_r4. It’s still our little Holly, though. We hope to set up a camera to watch her as she rakes in bedding and on through the winter.
Out in the woods, Ember continues to go to the den she has been using. We are becoming ever more confident that she will den there and have cubs. Her travels away from the den to a community feeding site remind us of Blackheart back in 1999, when she was using a den while continuing to fatten up at a community feeding site. Then, in January, she gave birth to Dot and Donna in January of 2000. Both had or are still living long lives. 13-year-old Dot was killed in 2013 and 15-year-old Donna has survived yet another hunting season (with the help of Lily Fans) and is currently with her 4 cubs. She is still the calm, gentle bear that she was as a cub and yearling. Dot and Donna were the cubs shown in “The Man Who Walks With Bears” documentary that came out in spring 2001 on Animal Planet.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center