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July 19, 2010 – 9:45 PM CDT
Hope and Lily are together. Hope is not as frantic as before. The two bears just hung out, playing hard. They traveled and produced scats full of berries, but we haven’t been able to analyze the scats fully yet. New video from today posted at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html.
Elsewhere in the bear world here, Juliet is ending the day with all three cubs after being separated from one of them for a few hours yesterday and one of them a couple hours today.
RC, the 11-year-old aunt of Lily, also was separated from one of her cubs for a several hours today. In both cases, the cubs tracked down their mothers, bawling, like Hope did when she got on her mother’s trail. Temporary separations of mothers and cubs like this are fairly common.
So, an eventful day ended up peaceful for all.
Thank you again for all you do. Every week when Lynn stops in the Bear Center there is a new treat to help devour with gusto. The shed looks terrific even before being painted.
And we all are on the verge of something big. Teachers are enthusiastically emerging to create a major outreach to classrooms. We believe that making factual information about bears readily available to classrooms will displace the current teaching of fear and misconceptions. There is a huge and urgent need for teaching factual information, starting with pre-schoolers. People must learn the truth about bears if we are to achieve any semblance of coexistence. People will not coexist with animals they fear. Misconceptions are the bears’ enemy.
You have become a major force for bears. Many of the teachers among you have become passionate for bears after watching Lily and Hope. They have much to offer. Together, we will create teaching units appropriate for various grades in accordance with state guidelines, also called GLE’s (Grade Level Expectations). With the help of Lily and Hope’s followers, truth will win out over misconceptions. Bears everywhere will be the winners. This outreach will initially be to classrooms in English-speaking countries but eventually will be translated into other languages. A group of teachers is beginning this effort by developing a form for teachers to fill out and submit with basic information. More to follow.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center