As a herring gull watches me through the window from 5 feet away, I am looking at two super pictures of Gerry on my computer. 
Gerry Bear (by Bill Lea 1994)I’d never seen these pictures before. Both were taken by Bill Lea in June 1994, just 2 years after Gerry arrived at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. By the time these pictures were taken, Gerry’s 3 cubs had been released into the wilds of North Carolina. She never mated again. She repeatedly blustered at the male she was supposed to mate with. She is still living there today at the age of 28. 
Gerry Bear (by Bill Lea 1994)I hope to see her again one of these years. I suspect she has a lot of white hairs now like 30-year-old Shadow does. I’m getting high resolution versions of these pictures for the upper walls of the North American Bear Center.
No news about the ambassador bears, and it’s peaceful coexistence between the wild bears and this nature-loving community. Sometimes, no news is good news.
Looking forward to the dinner with bears tomorrow evening here, the LilyPad Picnic that follows, plus the Black Bear Field Course that follows that.
Thank you for all you do
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Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center