It WAS Hope—It IS Hope!
June 4, 2010 – 10:50 AM CDT
It was raining, but I was up and out early—anxious to check the feeding sites and the trail cameras. I first checked the site at the tree where I had last seen Lily and Hope together. I thought it was the one most likely to have been visited. My heart sank when I saw the food had not been touched. I found the same at the second site. The third had been touched – but only the pecans floating in the formula had been taken. It didn’t look like what we’d seen yesterday when the containers were ‘licked clean.’ I checked the trail cameras and found the culprit to be a crow/raven. Discouraging. Was Hope still in the area?
I plowed through the wet understory to the last feeding site—expecting more of the same. I could see from 15’ away that the bowl was empty and had been licked clean. I looked up and saw Hope’s familiar face looking down at me from high in the red pine. Yes!
I called Lynn to quick bring the video camera (I hadn't brought it because of the rain) and more grapes.
I refilled the bowl, placed grapes and pecans nearby, then stood back to watch. I talked to her, thinking she would recognize my voice. Within a couple minutes she descended and approached the food. She sniffed the formula and then ate all the grapes! She took a pecan back to the tree to eat. I was impressed with how well she looked. She seemed healthy, and very relaxed. Her lack of interest in the formula led me to believe she had only recently polished of the formula in the bowl. She played with a pine cone and pawed moss of a nearby rock. She stood up and pulled at a sapling. She sat and scratched. She seemed to not have a care in the world!
Lynn arrived with the camera and I began to video her. He tossed her a bunch of grapes. She picked up the grapes and hurried away with them—leaving the bed tree. Funny how it all felt natural and we didn’t worry. She left the safety of this particular bed tree, but she knows her way around and is obviously doing well on her own. She certainly seems to know what she’s doing.
We’ll continue to maintain several feeding stations to supplement her diet until wild foods become more abundant.
Thank you all for your words of encouragement during these difficult days.
—Sue Mansfield, Biologist, North American Bear Center