Holiday Traffic
July 4, 2010 – 5:05 PM CDT
While Hope retreats to a roadless area and we wait for her to become accessible again, we’re thinking about the holiday traffic.
Being hit by a vehicle on Highway 169 is one of the biggest mortality factors in Shadow’s clan. The highway bisects the study area, and summer traffic is heavy—especially on holiday weekends. Two days ago, the BBC filmed Juliet crossing the highway near Soudan, MN, with her 3 cubs; Sharon, Shirley, and Boy Named Sue. Realizing the family was about to cross, Gordon Buchanan set up his camera beside the highway while other crew members set up farther away to capture the big picture. Drivers saw Gordon and wondered what he was filming. They slowed down and looked—then stopped and watched the family safely cross.
Gordon said Juliet paused until her cubs grouped around her so they could all cross together. Juliet was lucky. Not all cubs cooperate. Cubs have individual fears and personalities and don’t always listen to mom. Sometimes they end up separated on two sides of the highway. Sometimes mothers have to come back several times to encourage cubs that won’t follow.
On June 3, 2005, Sue watched from a distance as Braveheart spend 2 hours trying to get her 3 cubs to cross the highway. Braveheart crossed a total of 8 times and made 4 aborted crossing attempts—all without her cubs. She finally moved her cubs a quarter mile west and the family crossed successfully.
And there are other complications. Gentle Cinder (Dot’s daughter, Blackheart’s granddaughter) was killed when she crossed without looking while being pursued by a male in mating season. Same story for a female aptly named Sunshine (Blackheart’s daughter). Yearling male Skeeter (Donna’s son, Blackheart’s grandson) was also killed. Annie, one of the few study bears that is not part of Shadow’s clan, lost two cubs in a single accident on the highway. Braveheart lost the larger male cub in her first litter.
Some bears recover.
In 2001, Blackheart was hit and rolled under a pickup and out the back. She lay unconscious and then dragged herself into the woods without the use of her hind legs. The driver called Lynn who rushed to where Blackheart lay, following her radio signal. While Lynn was on his cell phone with the veterinarian, Blackheart struggled to her feet, showing her spine was okay. She was laid up for weeks. We checked her progress and brought her food and water. Then she limped into prominence again, hobbling after rivals to let them know she was still dominant. She fully recovered and had 3 healthy cubs the following winter—one of which was Braveheart.
Two years ago, Braveheart totaled a car, losing her radio-collar on impact. Without a radio-collar we couldn’t locate her to determine her injuries. After several weeks we gave up on seeing her again and wrote her off as a roadkill. What a surprise to see her 5 weeks later—a bit subdued and limping, but alive! She went on to have 3 cubs the following winter. She seems to have fully recovered.
Young female Jo was hit last spring but recovered. Other bears have shown up with road rash.
Some bears in the study rarely cross the highway. June, Lily, Jewel, and Donna have territories totally on one side of the highway or the other. June (pictured above) and her cubs crossed a few years ago on their way to and from an oak stand 15 miles north. We were glad when she made it safely back, not being familiar with traffic.
Dot (10) routinely crosses the highway with no problem. RC (11) does, too, now, but might have been hit once. Long ago, Lynn was with an experienced mother that crossed with her cubs. While still in the roadside bushes, she stood up and looked and listened both ways. She started across, one of the cubs dilly-dallied. She came back and then moved across with all together. The same mother crossed with less caution after she smelled a wolf. She retreated to a big white pine on the other side of the highway about dusk. All climbed. Shortly, the wolf appeared, sniffed the ground, and circled the tree. After the wolf left, the family descended and moved rapidly south for nearly two hours, remaining active later than usual as they moved to another white pine. Usually, they bedded down an hour or two after sunset and became active about a half hour before sunrise.
So that’s what’s on our minds this holiday weekend.
You guys really rallied for the Bear Center overnight. I don’t know how you found the votes. We feel relieved to see the Bear Center knocking on the door of the top 5. There are 8 days of voting left. It’s going to be a race. I don’t know if it will be possible to get Wildlife Research Institute into the top 5. As new voters come on board, they can vote for both. Where there is a choice of one or the other, it’s probably best to make sure the Bear Center stays in the top 5.
To vote for the North American Bear Center, go to bear.org, click on Support US, and figure out how to vote, 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, click on Support US, and figure out how to vote, or follow this link:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/237320150-wildlife-research-institute
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center