Hope is bigger than we thought
June 13, 2010 – 9:13 PM CDT
Hope continues to do well. Tonight when she stood up to bite a sapling (teething?), we snapped this picture and later measured from the ground to the tip of her nose—34 ¼ inches. That’s bigger than we thought. Seeing her every day, we didn’t notice how much she is growing. She is definitely no longer emaciated!
We examined her fresh scat and found she’s been sampling wild blueberries and American fly honeysuckle berries. Blueberries are still green but honeysuckle is beginning to ripen. Hope should do just fine once the berries really ripen.
Today, Lily approached to within 700 yards (0.4 mile) of Hope’s location. Sue went out to monitor what might happen if Lily continued and they met. False alarm. Lily’s GPS locations showed she veered sharply south. Lily no longer appears to be with a male.
Thank you for your contributions.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center