It looks like a mess now, but it’s going to be beautiful. We are expanding and upgrading the Gift Shop. People won’t recognize where they are when they come in the Bear Center. We’ve been wanting to do it for a couple years. 
NABC ExpansionNow it’s happening. Progress is at its ugliest at this point. We’re converting the storage area to more Gift Shop. Merchandise that used to be in storage will be on display, plus an eating area. Good ideas flow and get acted on at the Bear Center. Thank you, Scott and all who are helping.
As I work on a Den Cam Permit Application, I think how much we have learned from the Den Cams. I know they were controversial. Students truly could grow up liking bears and not wanting to buy hunting licenses. But they and the world were learning the truth about the least observed part of bear life. Even since the Den Cams started, a wildlife expert went on the David Letterman show claiming that hibernating bears give birth in their sleep and wake up in spring surprised to see cubs. Every Lily Fan in the world knows better. We’ve seen it. We saw the preparations Lily made when she was expecting. We heard her welcoming grunts to squawking cubs. We saw her lick the remains of the amniotic sac of one cub after the other as they were born an hour or more apart. We saw her then tuck each cub under her, extend her hind legs forward tight against her sides and tuck her head under her chest to breath warm, moist air on the cubs when temperatures in the open dens were far below zero Fahrenheit. Mother bears keep their own body temperatures above 88 degrees F and remain cognizant. I’m not sure what the cub temperatures are, but they do just fine with their attentive mothers that respond to every cry. Cubs cry to express their needs. They cry when they need help reaching a nipple, avoiding a draft, or eliminating wastes. Mothers move to help the cubs who give the pulsing motor-like sound when everything is fine, especially when they are suckling. Mothers are reluctant to move when everything is fine. We all loved hearing the cubs’ sounds of contentment, knowing everything is in harmony in the dens. I hope we can have Den Cams this coming winter.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center