Introducing RC

Introducing RC

August 4, 2010 – 7:58 PM CDT

With Lily and Hope doing fine foraging together, we want to introduce 11-year-old RC and her cubs.

RC is a daughter of wary 20-year-old Shadow and shares her appearance and traits.  RC is ferocious toward bears that come near her cubs or encroach on her space.  Her high-strung nature makes her less trusting than many bears and makes us hesitant to try putting a radio-collar on her.  So, like Shadow, she doesn’t wear one.

We have made no effort to gain the trust of her 3 male cubs because they will likely disperse from the study area as yearlings after family break-up next year.

The photo shows RC being wary, as usual, while her cub relaxes under her watchful protection.

Similarly, Hope is more relaxed in the presence of Lily than when she is alone.  That’s one of the reasons why we believe Hope will stick with Lily right into the den.  Maybe we’re becoming complacent, but Lily and Hope being together is becoming the norm.

That the local Bear Head Lake State Park has risen to third place in the Coca Cola ‘Live Positively – Vote for Your Favorite Park’ contest is awesome.  Thanks to Lily’s and Hope’s fans, this park is gaining votes faster than any others we’ve noticed, including the leader (Great Smoky Mountains National Park) and the second-place park from Florida.   To vote, go to http://www.livepositively.com/en_us/americasparks/vote#/americasparks/vote.  Voting ends August 31.  Voting is limited to legal residents of the 50 United States (and D.C.) who are at least 13 years old at the time of participation and you can vote as many times as you like.  When Lily and Hope fans put their power behind something, it makes a difference!

And that goes also for the terrific job you’re doing advancing bear education for classrooms, outdoor science centers, and home-schoolers.  Coordinator Corelyn Senn, the committee heads, and committee members constantly exclaim about the talent and ‘get it done’ attitude they are seeing.  Each individual is taking on a job, making it his or her own, and contributing to the whole.

Thank you for all you do!

One more thing, the Lilypad Picknicker who had the misfortune of hitting a bear in the study area through no fault of her own could do us one more favor.  Could you contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your phone number and email?  We wonder how big the bear was, which way it was going, etc.  From the information she gave when she kindly reported it to the Bear Center, the accident was in Braveheart’s territory, but Braveheart and her two female yearlings are all okay, so we need more information to figure out who might be missing.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

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