Precious Hope - 5/10/10Six years ago, Hope came into the world as thousands watched. It was also the birth of Lily Fans. When Hope’s birth was announced on NBC Today, Lily and Hope became the top search topic in the world on Yahoo—number 4 on Google. Amazing. Her birth spurred the biggest bear education opportunity I know of. People in over a 100 countries watched and learned from the bears themselves.
Most of the pictures here are familiar to Lily Fans. Two of them might not have been seen before—Hope in front of the den where Lily gave birth to Faith and Jason, and Hope with a funny look on her face as she watched Jim Stroner snap her picture. So many good memories. So many friendships formed.
Her name, voted by Lily Fans, signifies:
Hope—for bear populations everywhere
Opportunity—to learn what bears are really like
Progress—toward correcting misconceptions and changing attitudes
Education—about bear life
That’s what Lily Fans stand for. That’s what we’re all about. What she helped start continues. Her memory lives on in our hearts, in what we do, in the Hope Learning Center, and exhibits at the North American Bear Center.
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| Hope 4/29/2010 | Hope by Jim Stroner - 7/10/2010 | |
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| Lily being silly - 3/27/2010 | Lily's den - 12/4/2009 | Lily the Black Bear - 10/1/2009 |
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| Hope at the den - 10/25/2010 | Hope in den - 12/31/2010 | Hope at the den - 10/25/2010 |
Here are some videos that compile clips of Lily and Hope in the den.
Highlights of Lily and Hope as a cub in the den:
January 21-22, 2010 - Lily's Labor and Delivery of Hope Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vckzJF-fEc
January 28 - February 25, 2010 - Lily & Hope Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nEKbEnUb4
February 28 - March 18, 2010 - Lily & Hope Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOmGmkTRL8
March 19 - April 1, 2010 - Lily & Hope Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs5rL8HpgkQ
Also, this video that was created by a Lily Fan holds a lot of memories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GIl_XcvDso
This video of Hope’s birth by PixController symbolizes our start toward learning so much with Den Cams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBNtANbW5vE&feature=youtu.be
This presentation shows some of the highlights http://www.bearstudy.org/website/publications/videos/2865-black-bear-denning-behavior-in-northestern-minnesota-2010-2013.html
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center