Hope still moving
July 1, 2010 – 11:54 PM CDT
Hope became a little more independent today, moving beyond the area she used with Lily.
This morning she was still in familiar territory—actually very near the place where we first touched her. At that time—May 28—she was with Lily and so weak and lethargic that we gave her the first food. She was so desperate for the food that she endured touching. That’s when we realized how emaciated she had become and how little milk Lily was producing with her clogged milk ducts.
Today, Hope moved into virgin territory, traveling a minimum distance of 0.75 miles south. We tried to catch up to her this evening, but she traveled south until it was too dark for us to continue. She will have to eat extra wild food. Actually, it’s about time to cut back on the supplements with so many berries ripening. We can’t wait until morning to see how far she travels. As we write this, she likely has settled down for the night.
On the way out of the forest, we saw Lily. Her GPS locations showed that she was also heading south. We pray they meet and unite. Sure would make our lives easier!
It’s time to check Lily’s estrus status again, but she may be moving past mating. We homed in on her telemetry signal early this afternoon and saw her walking carefree alone and not sniffing the air and ground for other bears like she has been doing. We’re ready to see what she does next.
Thank you for many things. Today, 2 boxes of pastries arrived as a surprise at the Bear Center for the team. We see your votes for the Bear Center and Wildlife Research Institute on Chase Community Giving. That is so big for us. It can make a huge difference for both the North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute.
To vote for the North American Bear Center, click on this link and vote. Right now the Bear Center is in 7th place with about 3800 votes. Thank you.
To vote for the Wildlife Research Institute, click on this link and vote. Right now the WRI is in 35th place with about 1200 votes. Thank you again.
Don’t forget that each person can vote once for each organization.
Thank you for all you are doing to support our research and education.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center