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Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:25 pm
Update August 14, 2010 – 4:34 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 15 August 2010 at 03:16
Bear Center Enclosure a Success
3-year-old Lucky eating round-leafed dogwood - August 13, 2010
Sometime last evening Lily and Hope were separated again. We see this often with mothers and cubs in late summer. All cubs are getting pretty independent—and, with all Hope has been through this year, she tops the chart in independence. While Lily rested this morning, Hope foraged off on her own. People spotted Hope crossing a forest road a couple hundred yards away. Hope retreated up a tree until she saw an opportunity to run back in Lily’s direction. We’re liking more and more what we see in Hope. We joined up with both Lily and Hope today. Lily appeared to be trailing something—likely Hope. But when we joined Hope, she seemed confident and unstressed about this separation. Stay tuned!
Another thing we like is the bear enclosure at the North American Bear Center. With advice from Rob Laidlaw of Zoocheck Canada, and others, we built the kind of bear enclosure we believed should be the standard around the world. It’s wild and beautiful—a waterfall and pond set in a diverse, dense forest of over 2 acres.
Bears in captivity should have an environment that doesn’t drive them crazy with captive psychosis.
What we see in the enclosure at the North American Bear Center are behaviors much like we see in the wild. What makes that more amazing is that these bears had no experience in the wild. Yet, they didn’t have to learn to eat wild foods. They instinctively knew to raid ant colonies and forage on the same foods wild bears eat. The photo shows 3-year-old Lucky eating round-leafed dogwood berries—the same berries wild bears are eating now. None of the bears in the Bear Center enclosure pace.
The enclosure is home to 3 bears. Lucky was an orphaned cub that was about to be killed at a rehabilitation center. Ted and Honey, now 13 and 14 years old, were born and raised in captivity. All came to the Bear Center in 2007. Lucky and Ted became buddies, playing together, sometimes feeding nose to nose, and they even hibernated together last winter. Honey is more a loner even though she was raised with Ted, but she and Lucky spent one winter snuggled in her den.
What a contrast between the Bear Center’s enclosure and the small cement structures that house bears elsewhere around the world. Bears are intelligent, active animals that search for food and explore their world. In cement enclosures, bears with active minds descend into boredom, pace, and make repetitive, mindless movements. Given no choice but to sit and walk on cement, the abrasive contact causes hair loss and raw feet and tails. Zookeepers may try to interrupt the repetitive behaviors and boredom by introducing novel objects to encourage play and exploration. But there is only so much anyone can do.
It would be hard to imagine a more natural bear enclosure than the forested one at the Bear Center. Mother nature provides better enrichment than any human ever could. Each year, the changing seasons produce ever-changing bear foods. In addition, keepers plant grass and clover so the bears have an abundance of fresh young greens. The dense forest lets the bears rest unseen in the shade, forage for wild foods, climb trees, and play with wild objects. Or they can make themselves visible to swim in the pond and forage for nuts, fruit, and greens that keepers scatter many times a day. Lucky and Ted put on great shows romping and playing with each other in and around the pond.
The natural enclosure allows each bear to express his or her distinct personality. Lucky is more the explorer. He always has somewhere to go or a log to manipulate. Ted was raised by his former owners to like people, and he spends more time in front of the observation deck people-watching and being watched. Honey is more reclusive. At first, she paced in an area the size of the small pen she was raised in. Now she’s expanded her world to the forest and its wild occupants.
There is too much for the bears to do and see for them to waste time pacing or doing repetitive behaviors, as pond cam viewers can attest.
They share the enclosure with wild red squirrels, eastern chipmunks, Franklin’s ground squirrels, snowshoe hares, woodchucks, pine martens, mice, ducks, gulls, ravens, and other wild critters that come and go.
Everything we hoped for when we built the Bear Enclosure is coming true. We write this update hoping that other bear facilities can follow suit around the world.
Things continue to move forward with development of Educational Outreach.
Your diligent voting has stretched Bear Head Lake State Park’s lead to over 300,000 votes in Coca Cola’s Favorite Parks contest. Incredible!
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 15 August 2010 at 03:16
Bear Center Enclosure a Success
3-year-old Lucky eating round-leafed dogwood - August 13, 2010
Sometime last evening Lily and Hope were separated again. We see this often with mothers and cubs in late summer. All cubs are getting pretty independent—and, with all Hope has been through this year, she tops the chart in independence. While Lily rested this morning, Hope foraged off on her own. People spotted Hope crossing a forest road a couple hundred yards away. Hope retreated up a tree until she saw an opportunity to run back in Lily’s direction. We’re liking more and more what we see in Hope. We joined up with both Lily and Hope today. Lily appeared to be trailing something—likely Hope. But when we joined Hope, she seemed confident and unstressed about this separation. Stay tuned!
Another thing we like is the bear enclosure at the North American Bear Center. With advice from Rob Laidlaw of Zoocheck Canada, and others, we built the kind of bear enclosure we believed should be the standard around the world. It’s wild and beautiful—a waterfall and pond set in a diverse, dense forest of over 2 acres.
Bears in captivity should have an environment that doesn’t drive them crazy with captive psychosis.
What we see in the enclosure at the North American Bear Center are behaviors much like we see in the wild. What makes that more amazing is that these bears had no experience in the wild. Yet, they didn’t have to learn to eat wild foods. They instinctively knew to raid ant colonies and forage on the same foods wild bears eat. The photo shows 3-year-old Lucky eating round-leafed dogwood berries—the same berries wild bears are eating now. None of the bears in the Bear Center enclosure pace.
The enclosure is home to 3 bears. Lucky was an orphaned cub that was about to be killed at a rehabilitation center. Ted and Honey, now 13 and 14 years old, were born and raised in captivity. All came to the Bear Center in 2007. Lucky and Ted became buddies, playing together, sometimes feeding nose to nose, and they even hibernated together last winter. Honey is more a loner even though she was raised with Ted, but she and Lucky spent one winter snuggled in her den.
What a contrast between the Bear Center’s enclosure and the small cement structures that house bears elsewhere around the world. Bears are intelligent, active animals that search for food and explore their world. In cement enclosures, bears with active minds descend into boredom, pace, and make repetitive, mindless movements. Given no choice but to sit and walk on cement, the abrasive contact causes hair loss and raw feet and tails. Zookeepers may try to interrupt the repetitive behaviors and boredom by introducing novel objects to encourage play and exploration. But there is only so much anyone can do.
It would be hard to imagine a more natural bear enclosure than the forested one at the Bear Center. Mother nature provides better enrichment than any human ever could. Each year, the changing seasons produce ever-changing bear foods. In addition, keepers plant grass and clover so the bears have an abundance of fresh young greens. The dense forest lets the bears rest unseen in the shade, forage for wild foods, climb trees, and play with wild objects. Or they can make themselves visible to swim in the pond and forage for nuts, fruit, and greens that keepers scatter many times a day. Lucky and Ted put on great shows romping and playing with each other in and around the pond.
The natural enclosure allows each bear to express his or her distinct personality. Lucky is more the explorer. He always has somewhere to go or a log to manipulate. Ted was raised by his former owners to like people, and he spends more time in front of the observation deck people-watching and being watched. Honey is more reclusive. At first, she paced in an area the size of the small pen she was raised in. Now she’s expanded her world to the forest and its wild occupants.
There is too much for the bears to do and see for them to waste time pacing or doing repetitive behaviors, as pond cam viewers can attest.
They share the enclosure with wild red squirrels, eastern chipmunks, Franklin’s ground squirrels, snowshoe hares, woodchucks, pine martens, mice, ducks, gulls, ravens, and other wild critters that come and go.
Everything we hoped for when we built the Bear Enclosure is coming true. We write this update hoping that other bear facilities can follow suit around the world.
Things continue to move forward with development of Educational Outreach.
Your diligent voting has stretched Bear Head Lake State Park’s lead to over 300,000 votes in Coca Cola’s Favorite Parks contest. Incredible!
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Anne-Marie1981- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:26 pm
Update August 15, 2010 – 8:14 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 16 August 2010 at 04:58
Lily and Hope Together
Lily & Hope together - August 15, 2010
Lily and Hope are together like nothing had happened. The neat thing about it was that Lily was actively searching for Hope. The reunion happened with Hope bawling and scent-trailing Lily, but along the way Lily also searched for Hope. They may separate from time to time as they did for the last two nights, but other cubs also get separated from their mothers. The fact that Lily searched for Hope makes us ever more confident they will be together for the long haul and den together in about a month and a half.
Corelyn has gotten 66 survey responses from teachers in 31 states and two provinces. This is a great start. We suspect more will come in when school starts and teachers are back in the grind. All aspects of the Education Outreach are going well.
Your voting in the Coca Cola Favorite Parks contest is unbelievable, with Bear Head Lake State Park now 334,000 votes in the lead.
Repercussions from the last time you got behind voting like that—making Ely the Coolest Small Town in America—are still bringing benefits to Ely. Budget Travel Magazine’s writer is in Ely right now gathering information for an article in the March Issue of the magazine. This article will include the bears.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
https://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=263755115498#!/photo.php?pid=6931577&op=1&view=all&subj=484725564477&aid=-1&auser=0&oid=484725564477&id=263755115498
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 16 August 2010 at 04:58
Lily and Hope Together
Lily & Hope together - August 15, 2010
Lily and Hope are together like nothing had happened. The neat thing about it was that Lily was actively searching for Hope. The reunion happened with Hope bawling and scent-trailing Lily, but along the way Lily also searched for Hope. They may separate from time to time as they did for the last two nights, but other cubs also get separated from their mothers. The fact that Lily searched for Hope makes us ever more confident they will be together for the long haul and den together in about a month and a half.
Corelyn has gotten 66 survey responses from teachers in 31 states and two provinces. This is a great start. We suspect more will come in when school starts and teachers are back in the grind. All aspects of the Education Outreach are going well.
Your voting in the Coca Cola Favorite Parks contest is unbelievable, with Bear Head Lake State Park now 334,000 votes in the lead.
Repercussions from the last time you got behind voting like that—making Ely the Coolest Small Town in America—are still bringing benefits to Ely. Budget Travel Magazine’s writer is in Ely right now gathering information for an article in the March Issue of the magazine. This article will include the bears.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
https://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=263755115498#!/photo.php?pid=6931577&op=1&view=all&subj=484725564477&aid=-1&auser=0&oid=484725564477&id=263755115498
Anne-Marie1981- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:27 pm
Update August 16, 2010 – 8:55 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 17 August 2010 at 03:59
A Touching Moment
Lily and Hope - August 16, 2010
The highlight today was watching Lily’s reaction when Hope returned from foraging a short way off on her own. First, they touched their faces together. Then Hope snuggled in with Lily and Lily put her arm around Hope and bit her gently and playfully on the cheek. We think Hope’s look in the picture says she liked it. They were deep in a cedar/alder swamp.
Stories about them appeared in the Duluth News Tribune (at least online) today and also on Northland News Channels 6 and 11 this evening. We were with Lily and Hope at the time and missed the broadcasts.
Things continue to progress on the Education Outreach for classrooms, outdoor education center, home-schoolers, etc. Tremendous effort with many educators giving generously of their talent and time.
The Minnesota DNR’s Bear Head Lake State Park may develop a whole new appreciation for June, Lily, and Hope, due to the heroic efforts the Lily-Hope fans are making to win $100,000 for the park in the Coca Cola Favorite Parks contest. Fans have put the park in the lead by over 350,000 votes!
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
https://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=263755115498#!/photo.php?pid=6945982&op=1&view=all&subj=485272749477&aid=-1&auser=0&oid=485272749477&id=263755115498
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 17 August 2010 at 03:59
A Touching Moment
Lily and Hope - August 16, 2010
The highlight today was watching Lily’s reaction when Hope returned from foraging a short way off on her own. First, they touched their faces together. Then Hope snuggled in with Lily and Lily put her arm around Hope and bit her gently and playfully on the cheek. We think Hope’s look in the picture says she liked it. They were deep in a cedar/alder swamp.
Stories about them appeared in the Duluth News Tribune (at least online) today and also on Northland News Channels 6 and 11 this evening. We were with Lily and Hope at the time and missed the broadcasts.
Things continue to progress on the Education Outreach for classrooms, outdoor education center, home-schoolers, etc. Tremendous effort with many educators giving generously of their talent and time.
The Minnesota DNR’s Bear Head Lake State Park may develop a whole new appreciation for June, Lily, and Hope, due to the heroic efforts the Lily-Hope fans are making to win $100,000 for the park in the Coca Cola Favorite Parks contest. Fans have put the park in the lead by over 350,000 votes!
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
https://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=263755115498#!/photo.php?pid=6945982&op=1&view=all&subj=485272749477&aid=-1&auser=0&oid=485272749477&id=263755115498
Anne-Marie1981- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:28 pm
Little Miss Hope is far to independent for my liking. I think someone needs to tie her to Lily for the next 8 weeks so they don't get separated at the horrible horrible time. Lily needs to keep Hope safe and out of danger!!
Anne-Marie1981- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
whitestarling Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:44 pm
Thanks for the updates AM. Its good to catch up,she is getting really adventures is'nt she, did'nt like the bit about her crossing the road 
, but I suppose with the breakup earlier she is that bit more independant at her age than other cubs, but they really need to den together that would make Hope safe through the winter
WS
, but I suppose with the breakup earlier she is that bit more independant at her age than other cubs, but they really need to den together that would make Hope safe through the winterWS
whitestarling- Admin
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Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:40 pm
She is far to independent I think WS, but I guess she would be with all she's been through! Poor little bear! At least they keep finding each other now though!! 
Here's a video clip of their most recent reunion
Here's a video clip of their most recent reunion