Hope for the future
July 3, 2010 – 8:17 PM CDT
Hope is traveling, eating blueberries, and avoiding everyone but the two of us. She’s not moving as far as big bears are, but she’s not a big bear—maybe 30 pounds.
This morning, she was 0.7 miles SSW of her location of 3 PM yesterday. By this afternoon, she had moved a mile back NNE into an area she and Lily used this spring.
Sue found her up a white pine with people swimming close enough on this holiday weekend that Sue didn’t want to talk loudly and draw attention. Sue moved 30-40 yards in the opposite direction and sat down where Hope could see her from the treetop. Hope climbed down and came to her. It is hard to test a bear’s distance vision in the forest, but we believe bears can see about as well as we can. Hope evidently recognized Sue or the routine of sitting down.
Hope lay trustingly near Sue, getting up occasionally to stand with her back to Sue while listening to the swimmers. Hope seemed relaxed enough for Sue to remove a tick from her, which Sue did. A moment later, though, Sue made a move to touch her again and Hope pulled away. After the feeding, Sue watched Hope forage for blueberries.
The personalities and confidence of cubs with mothers develop through the summer, but for little Hope with all her responsibilities, we’ll see if she ever becomes more trusting.
At her age, Hope surely misses the security, closeness, and play she would have with a mother and siblings. Play is a big part of a cub’s life the first summer. By their second summer, family breakup has occurred, and young females may never play with their siblings and mother again.
The nut on Hope’s collar is on only a couple turns. We can undoubtedly get it off if we need to, but it should remain loose enough for a year. It is so loose that she can double in size with no problem, lose weight over winter, and gain more next spring. We hope the breakaway piece doesn’t rot through before she shows us her den this October.
What a wonderful group we are discovering out there through Lily and Hope. Many good ideas. Wonderful creativity. People ready to help. Surprise treats arriving at the Bear Center and Research Center. Flowers and cards. All the many things you all have done plus donating over the months. We don’t know how to say thank you except to keep working as hard as we can to do good bear research and spread good bear information. We often want to recognize individuals but don’t dare because we would miss others. Please just know how much we appreciate all you do. We feel very appreciated, and when we meet you and hear your voices and feel your love coming through we know we have friends out there. We’ve never had it like this before.
We also know how hard you’re working to get the Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute into the top five for Chase Community Giving. You discovered the Chase opportunity, alerted us and others and turned it into something that can make a big difference. We know some of you have called all your friends and asked them to vote. We know some of you have asked your kids to spread the word through their networks. Many of you who voted for the North American Bear Center have gone back and voted for the Wildlife Research Institute. Some of you have voted for five organizations in order to get a gift vote that you in turn gave someone to vote for the Bear Center, and in some cases they did the same thing, giving you a gift vote to use for the Bear Center. We are thinking there is a slim chance the Wildlife Research Institute, in 19th place can make it into the top five, but if people use gift votes we may be able to raise the couple thousand votes needed to put the Bear Center into the top five. Voting ends July 12.
To vote for the North American Bear Center, go to bear.org and click on Support Us or follow this link
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/411838192-north-american-bear-center
To vote for the Wildlife Research Institute, go to bearstudy.org and click on Support Us or follow this link
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/237320150-wildlife-research-institute
Thank you for all you‘ve done and are doing. What a force you’ve become for bears.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center