Goat’s Milk Galore
May 31, 2010 – 8:07 PM CDT
We are so relieved to see little Hope doing better. Thanks to you all for help.
Today, Hope got as much formula as she wanted plus grapes, banana chips, and Pedialyte. This morning, the formula was made with canned goat’s milk. This evening, it was made with fresh goat’s milk. A happy family from Wisconsin drove up hundreds of dollars worth of fresh and frozen goat’s milk for Hope—gallons of it. Enough for the duration. Still not as good as real bear milk, but as good as one can do. To the goat’s milk we added, heavy cream, egg yolks, fish oil, olive oil, plain yogurt, calcium carbonate, vitamins B and C. .
More food is coming, and Hope will be increasing her consumption of wild foods. Meal worms are on order plus herbs and hormones to unplug Lily’s milk ducts and stimulate lactation. Lily is being motherly, nurturing, and playful with Hope. Physically and behaviorally, she is not showing any sign of estrus. Each day we are more confident of the outcome. Our goal is to give Hope the best chance of life with Lily in the wild. The expert advice we are getting on rejuvenating Lily’s lactation is to give Hope the best food we can and enough of it to give her strength to nurse vigorously to maximally stimulate lactation. We are encouraged to see Hope take the formula and then nurse vigorously as the experts hoped. Even a little bear milk will make a difference in her health. Our goal is for Lily to again become the main source of nutrition. Today, I thought some of the lumps in Lily’s breasts were softer.
Thank you to the many experts who provided the latest data on dealing with this kind of crisis.
I can hear the critics who think we should have done nothing. That would have meant we would not have found Hope. The likelihood of them finding each other after 5 days apart was practically nil. Hope likely would have died alone and unseen. We wouldn’t have known if she were sick or simply starving.
If we did nothing, we would have learned practically nothing from her disappearance and death. There is much to learn from her life. We already have. And as time goes on, we are narrowing the possibilities of why Lily went on her walkabout.
Thank you for your contributions and help.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center