Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:49 pm

Update October 25, 2010 – 8:09 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 26 October 2010 at 04:04
Gentle Lily

Lily with new collar - October 25, 2010
It’s hard to find a gentler bear than Lily. She has never swatted anyone. She has never bitten in anger. Like a dog, she may gently communicate using her mouth. She has never harmed anyone. She is calm and tolerant while having her bulky radio-collar and GPS unit replaced with a small, light radio-collar for the winter, as we did today. And most of all, she is gentle with Hope.

Little Hope, becoming big Hope, regularly runs Lily off food. If Lily finds something good to eat, Hope comes in and takes it with no protest from Lily. Hope treats Lily like a sibling she can dominate. Gentle Lily backs off every time.

Hope peering out of the den - October 25, 2010
We saw that again today as we were taking Lily’s heart rate. To do that, we gave Hope a few hazelnuts to distract her and gave Lily a few of the same to occupy her. Lily’s heart rate was slow, varying between 36 and 48 beats per minute. Except when Hope came to steal Lily’s nuts.

Each time Hope approached, Lily’s heart rate rose to around 60. This is slower than her summer rate in the 80’s and 90’s, of course, but today 60 represented a significant increase over her calm rate of 36 to 48.

Lily and Hope at their den - October 25, 2010
Yet, Lily and Hope also calmly snuggle down together. As they settle in for the winter, we no longer see the rough play they did earlier in the summer.

The area around their den shows evidence of more raking.

Lily is still the watchdog of the two. When she is outside the den, she spends a lot of time sniffing the air, pivoting her ears, and looking into the forest.

From what we are seeing, Lily will likely be a gentle, faithful mother with her next litter.

Yesterday, after Donna Rogers sampled some of the treats you sent, she said, “These people are incredibly generous. Almost beyond belief!” We echo that, and thank you for all you do.

Another thing you are doing is writing letters to editors and letters to officials, urging officials to do the right thing and give protection to the radio-collared bears that are so important to science, education, and the region. For help with letter-writing check the guidelines and talking points listed as ‘Contacting the DNR’ at https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=263755115498&topic=18562. For addresses to send letters to see ‘Legislator Contact Info at https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=263755115498&topic=18579. Thank you so much.

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

It won't let me click on the pictures so I can't post them Crying or Very sad

some really cute ones if you can check facebook Very Happy

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:50 pm

Update October 26, 2010 – 7:30 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Wednesday, 27 October 2010 at 13:48
Rain, rain, and more rain

Three faces of Hope - October 25, 2010
This was a day of staying inside, staying dry, and getting office work done.

If Lily had picked the wet den, she would have learned today it was time to move. Big downpour. The storm is making national news. Barometric pressure records are falling all over the state. Grand Rapids, 74 miles southwest of Lily’s den, set the all time Minnesota low of 28.28 inches of mercury about 10 AM this morning, and it was still dropping at that time. Lily and Hope’s present, drier den is a few more inches above the water table. It is in a cedar swamp but on higher ground than the wet den was. They may be wishing they had chosen the den they dug in September on the top of the hill, but that one had an unusually big entrance. We suspect part of the entrance collapsed while they were digging for it to end up that big. Maybe they thought that den didn’t provide enough protection.

All we can say is “Darn.” That den would have been within reach of electricity and DSL telephone and could have provided the same bandwidth as this past winter. The den they eventually chose will require us to use a cell phone, and the upload speed there is only 0.35 mega-bits per second. That’s about a sixth the speed of last winter. The Den Cam team is looking for ways to increase that with a big antenna and maybe an amplifier. One member suggested putting a temporary cell phone tower there. We don’t know what is possible yet along that line. The den is on private property, which can be good or bad. We called the property owner of record a few days ago but have not heard back. Today, we learned who the other property owners are and will call one or more of them tomorrow.

We again thank you for the big effort from the fundraising committee you created and from all who bid on the items they auctioned off. Thank you.

We looked with amazement at the votes you are amassing in the Care2 contest to bring $20,000 to Ely’s Schools at http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/. After a surge from the 2nd place school, you pulled farther ahead for a current score of 2,965 to 1204 with only 17 days left. Way to go. This is one more reason for property owners to help us place a den cam in Lily’s den. One of the property owners is a former principal of the school you are voting to help. Lynn’s kids loved him.

Your letters to officials are great. We know how much work each letter is! You and we both know how important this effort to protect the radio-collared bears is to the future of the study and the lives of these bears. We cannot continue to lose such valuable research bears at the rate that has been happening. We really can’t understand why there is so much debate about it. Thank you for all you do.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:50 pm

Update 10-27-2010 – 7:33 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 28 October 2010 at 17:08
Settling in

Lily showing off her little white chest hair patch - October 25, 2010
We didn’t check, but we suspect the research bears were either raking in extra bedding or resting in their dens today. Between rain and increasing wind, winter preparations are in order. Somehow, the snow and very high winds went to the south of us. However, the north shore of Lake Superior got up to 5 inches of snow.

We don’t want to bother bears that are slowing down and settling in, so we’re settling in too. The weather is getting bad. We’re entering the office part of the year. And we have lots to catch up on. Data to crunch. Things to write. Etc. A priority is getting Lily’s den cam in place by early December. We talked to the landowner who is a former principal of Ely High School today. Tonight, he will present our request to the other 3 landowners who jointly own the property where Lily is denning.

The highlight of the day was stopping in the Bear Center hungry and finding brand new sandwich material, a fruit tray, cookies and cupcakes, and some treats left over from earlier. Great!

Lily showing off her new collar - October 25, 2010
We are seeing your wonderful letters and are very much on edge as to how the DNR will respond. Will they rule in favor of hunters being able to shoot any bear, ribboned and collared or not, because hunter dollars pay for bear management? Or will they recognize the values of research and education and the money you bring to Minnesota? Will they pay attention only to Minnesota residents? Or will they consider the value of all of you who visit the state and spend money? Will they recognize the values of our research and their own research and how it benefits management through educating the public? Or will they consider research that does not help determine how many bears should be killed as not being worthy of protecting. Will they inconvenience a few hunters by making it illegal to shoot radio-collared, ribboned bears, which means asking hunters to look twice for collars? Or will they leave it legal to shoot any bear so hunters can take quick shots at poorly identified targets that risk wounding bears and shooting people?

Hope in background shaking head - October 25, 2010
One comment we have seen from DNR officials is that we haven’t published much in peer-reviewed journals in recent years. We plan to do that. But it has not been a high priority, and here’s why. We have already senior-authored more peer-reviewed papers than anyone. According to a survey by the Journal of Wildlife Management, the average journal article is thoroughly read by 6 people. More people read the abstracts. We feel the papers we have published have done little to help bears. Sure, they contain facts and figures and expand the knowledge of bear biology, but they do little to change people’s attitudes about bears, and it is people’s attitudes that make the most difference for bears.

So, in the last decade, we’ve focused on reaching the public. Since 2001, we have reached about 100 million people a year through TV documentaries while tackling some of the most difficult questions in bear biology. While reaching people and changing attitudes, we were quietly gathering the most detailed data on bear behavior and ecology ever obtained anywhere. Now, with 5 documentaries filmed (2 have aired, 3 will air in 2011) and the North American Bear Center created, we are preparing to shift gears.

We see great value in the Educational Outreach Program you and we are developing. We see great value in adding exhibits to the North American Bear Center. We see great value in writing the book “Daring to Trust: my life of bear research” about how we developed ever kinder and gentler research methods to gain ever deeper insights into bear behavior and ecology. And the time has come to crunch some data and write some peer-reviewed papers. Getting some of those published will be a challenge because most of the scientific reviewers will be mired in misconceptions we will have to overcome.

Very few biologists have spent any time with non-tranquilized wild bears. How can a person learn about bear ecology and behavior without seeing the study animals? That’s the questions we asked long ago. It’s one of the reasons we developed research methods that facilitate observation. It’s controversial, and that is a constant problem for us. But direct observation is the only way to learn much of what needs to be learned if people are to understand and appreciate bears. It’s the only way to obtain data that can change attitudes, and good human attitudes are the key to survival of bear populations.

People will not coexist with animals they fear. We believe good public attitudes are a key to good bear management. Consequently, we don’t understand why DNR officials say it is not a priority to protect our radio-collared bears because our data contributes little to bear management. The bear-human interface is one of the most important aspects of bear management, and that is a primary aspect of our research.

Thank you for all you do.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:51 pm

Update October 28, 2010 – 7:44 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Friday, 29 October 2010 at 02:15
Wounding loss and human safety

Lily and Hope - October 25, 2010
We’re waiting out the weather to do some final den checks. After we check and find the research bears in dens, we check again later from a distance to see if any of them surprised us by moving. We do that again after deer hunting season in late November because some bears move yet again with so many people in the woods. We also plan to check some old rock dens that we’ve been checking for decades for re-use.

A hunter from Pennsylvania kindly let us know we might have offended hunters with the update last night with our reference to “quick shots at poorly identified targets that risk wounding bears and shooting people.” The hunter said that he didn’t do that. And truly, most don’t.

Here’s what we were trying to say.

Wounding loss is one of the biggest problems in bear hunting. An Ontario study placed it at 13%. Across the continent, with a kill of about 55,000, a wounding loss of 13% would mean 5,000 to 6,000 bears slowly dying or slowly healing after bear season. The key to reducing wounding is waiting for a killing shot. That means passing up shots where the target is poorly identified in dense vegetation or low light. Yet, the top excuse we hear for not making it illegal to shoot radio-collared bears is that it may be difficult for hunters to see collars and ribbons in dense vegetation and low light. To us, that sounds like officials are condoning shooting under those conditions—conditions in which most hunters would not shoot for fear of wounding a bear or mistaking a person for a bear. This is an important issue. We don’t want hunters shooting under those conditions when we are right behind a bear we are following.

The problem of human safety is bigger than that. The highest bear kill is during the busy Labor Day Weekend when leaves are still on the bushes and many holiday hikers have no idea it is bear hunting season. They aren’t wearing orange, and orange might not help them anyway because leaves are still on the bushes. The hikers are unseen through leaves that obscure vision but don’t stop bullets. We think officials should do everything possible to encourage hunters to fully identify their targets, look twice for collars and ribbons, and wait for killing shots. One thing that could be done is make it illegal to shoot radio-collared bears—not protect hunters who might take such shots by saying that under some conditions it is hard to see radio-collars and ribbons.

We have written before about the reasons for bear hunting and why we support a hunting season in Minnesota, but we also believe that these radio-collared bears should be protected for their values to science, bear management, education, and the regional economy. They are also valuable to hunters. Protecting these bears means we can educate more people about the nature of bears. The more people know, the more willing they become to coexist with bears, which can lead to higher bear populations. In Minnesota, a combination of regulated hunting and education has quadrupled the population, which means more bears for people to see and to hunt.

Prior to 1971, the year bears were elevated to big game status, they were officially varmints that could be killed in any number, manner, and season. One of Lynn’s proudest achievements is working with Richard Anderson and legislators to end this varmint status and elevate bears to big game status with regulated killing. Lynn was asked by the MN DNR to write the initial bear hunting regulations, and he wrote the regulations to be as humane as possible with minimum wounding loss. Every bear that is wounded and goes off to die or suffer means another bear must die to fill the hunter’s tag. There is no place in bear hunting for reckless shooting. Most hunters are responsible enough not to do it. Responsible hunters must roll their eyes when hearing the excuse that it has to be legal to shoot radio-collared bears because a hunter could make an honest mistake while shooting in low light or under conditions of low visibility.

What a big surprise at the Bear Center today! You sent 8 pizzas, super salad, cookies, and the first cannoli any of us have ever tasted. Thank you!

In fact, thank you for all you do.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:51 pm

Update October 29, 2010 – 6:41 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 30 October 2010 at 02:55
One step closer to a den cam

Camera tube placed at den - October 29, 2010
Today, we met with Lily and Hope’s landlords. They were fun, helpful, made us laugh, and gave us access. They saw Lily and Hope as we placed the tubes that will hold the den cam and microphone near the den so they can get used to them. They are very supportive of the den cam effort and mentioned the benefits to bears, education, and the community.

Lily - October 29, 2010
In last night’s update, we discussed wounding losses. Today, we were happy to hear from Dr. David Garshelis, Ph.D, who is the principal bear biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Dr. Garshelis was kind enough to candidly let us know that his data for wounding losses in Minnesota bear hunts are lower than the 13% we cited from a study in neighboring Ontario. We hope Dave will share with us his wounding loss rates for rifle, archery, crossbow, muzzle loader, etc. We haven’t seen this information in his annual reports and had no idea it was available.

Hope - October 29, 2010
We always say that Minnesota has perhaps the best-managed bear population anywhere in the world. The presence of the data Dave mentioned is a reason to echo that. Another reason is that Minnesota’s bear population has about quadrupled in 40 years of regulated hunts and public education. Dave’s support is crucial in the effort to protect radio-collared bears in Minnesota.

Dave challenged us to post his complete email response for Lily’s fans to see. We appreciate his candid comments, and we honored that request below. We indeed do want to report the truth.

If readers think anyone has erred in any of this, please don’t post any comments. As soon as we obtain Dave’s data on wounding in Minnesota, we will share it with you.

First, our response to his email.

Dave, it sounds like your data from Minnesota differs from the Ontario study I mentioned. Great that you have that data. Could you tell me what the wounding losses are for each type of weapon used and the portion of the kill from each? Lynn

And now, the email Dave challenged us to post.

Lynn,
I just read with absolute astonishment your claims, on the NABC website (yesterday’s research post), of all the wounding losses of bears during the hunting season. We have very solid data on wounding losses of bears in Minnesota, with a very large sample (probably the largest in the country), collected since 1981. I am not going to provide those data to you because (1) you never asked, and (2) I doubt that you would report it correctly – however, I can tell you that your 13% figure is not even in the ballpark for Minnesota bears. It is clear that your objective in exaggerating the number of wounding losses is to incite your web fans into writing to protect radio-collared bears on the grounds that by doing so, hunters would be more careful, wounding losses would be reduced, and less people would be injured due to off-target shots (Really? How many people have been shot by bear hunters?) You tout yourself as a scientist and an educator, yet you freely report grossly misleading information without attempting to verify it (indeed, knowing that we would have that information, and writing to me to seek other information, which I gave you, the day before you posted this).

I find it difficult to make the pitch to protect collared bears— which I told you I have been doing— when it feeds into such wild allegations about bear hunters. You argue that your collared bears need protection because of the information they provide to science, yet you disgrace science by making highly flawed assertions about something for which you have no direct knowledge.

I challenge you to post this complete email response to your fans—if you have any inclination toward reporting the truth.

Dave

Meanwhile, from Lynn and Sue, thanks to you Lily fans, we are all still eating the abundant treats you sent yesterday, we are watching the lead widen in the Ely Schools contest at http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/, we are reading your thoughtful letters, we are seeing the results of your work on the Educational Outreach Project, and we are feeling thankful for all you do.

Again, please do not comment on the debate about wounding loss rates. When we get Dave Garshelis’ data, we will post it.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:51 pm

Update October 30, 2010 2:35 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 31 October 2010 at 00:05
No bear news

Hope - October 29, 2010
No news about the bears today. This time of year we prefer to leave them alone and let them settle into hibernation. Today, we are still remembering yesterday’s feeling of privilege being briefly near Gentle Lily and Hope. Here are a couple more pictures from those moments.

Dr. Dave Garshelis was good enough to get back to us with more on wounding loss during bear seasons in Minnesota. We appreciate his candid email, as follows.

Lily - October 29, 2010
Lynn,

The wounding loss rate in Minnesota is less than 2%. Most of that is from archery hunters. That means the hunters were quite close to the bear when they shot. If they “looked twice”, like you often say – to see if it had a collar – I don’t think they would have taken a better shot. It doesn’t mean that they didn’t have good target to shoot at. Maybe they just missed. Trying to tie the collared bear protection together with wounding loss – or inadvertently shooting people – is the height of absurdity. Maybe your fans will buy this argument, but I can’t imagine that anyone who knows anything about hunting would.

I will also add that just because a bear was wounded and lost doesn’t mean – as you assert, for emotional sake – that they suffered more. In many cases they just didn’t bleed enough (because of the fat layer) for the hunter to be able to follow them. In other cases the hunter just couldn’t find them because it was raining, or because the bear wandered down into a swamp where the hunter couldn’t walk. I know of 1 case with a collared bear where it clearly died soon after being struck, very close to the hunter’s bait – but the hunter was just too scared to follow the blood trail in the dark. In a 2nd case, the bear actually lived through the winter, denned normally, then died the next spring when the arrow shifted and punctured the lung.

You should drop this ridiculous argument. It only works with very naïve people, and letters from them parroting these assertions do not play well in an agency where we know better.

Dave

Dr. Garshelis has studied bears in Minnesota since 1981 as the principal bear biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He is now working toward legal protection for radio-collared bears in Minnesota. Dave co-chairs the Bear Specialist Group for the International Bear Association. We are very glad to learn the wounding loss in Minnesota is so low. We invite Dave to share his data with us anytime.

Again, if any of us erred related to this, please do not post comments about it. Our main goal is to learn. To do that, we need protection for radio-collared bears. Dr. Garshelis is working toward that protection. We thank him and all of you for working toward that goal.

We were touched to learn today that a 9-year-old Lily fan in Colorado asked that gifts for her birthday party be donations to the Bear Center instead of gifts for herself. She wants to become a bear biologist.

We wish we could be at the gathering of Lily fans in Hinckley, MN, today. We look forward to hearing about it and seeing the pictures.

We are touched by all you do for bear research and education.

&Mdash;Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:52 pm

Update October 31, 2010 – 7:14 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 01 November 2010 at 02:39
Big events

Lily - October 25, 2010
Today was the second of two back-to-back events. Yesterday was the happy gathering of about 60 Lily fans in Hinckley, MN where 49 of them managed to get in the group picture. We heard enthusiastic talk about the get-together from several who made their way farther north today for the annual ‘Free Day’ at the North American Bear Center. A crowd of over 461 saw all three bears repeatedly show up to forage in view. Their excitement about the bears, exhibits, and documentary was encouraging. Cookies and more, partly thanks to you, made it festive. Highlights were when the bears showed up—especially 700-pound Ted—and watching the stampede toward the viewing areas when it was announced on the speaker system. Local radio and newspapers covered the event. Most of the attendees were from the Ely area. Any mention of what you are doing to bring $20,000 for Ely’s schools was old news to this group! They already knew about that from the newspaper coverage of your efforts, and they were grateful. To vote, go to http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/.

Happy Hinckley gathering - October 30, 2010
Dr. David Garshelis was nice enough to take time from his busy schedule to explain in an email how he determined the 2% wounding loss in Minnesota. He wrote,

“The wounding information is from radio-collared bears. We have followed 349 collared bears to their eventual deaths, 270 of which were killed by hunters, and 5 of which were not recovered by the hunter (i.e., we found the dead bear – in only 1 case did the hunter report that he couldn’t find it, but knew it had a radio-collar). There are a few others that were wounded and survived (of course we check them all in the den each year and inspect them for injuries). Note that these data do not include bears that were killed and the radio destroyed. Since these would have been recovered by the hunter (presumably – otherwise we would have found the radio), the ‘wounding and lost’ rate is actually even a bit lower.”

A specialty of his is population dynamics, with wounding loss apparently being part of that. Dr. Garshelis not only studies black bears in Minnesota. His work as co-chair of the Bear Specialist Group for the International Bear Association involves studies of Asian species.

Thank you for all you are doing.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:53 pm

Update November 1, 2010 – 8:09 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 02 November 2010 at 05:04
Mixed age litters

Jo - October 3, 2010
No visits to bear dens today, so we dug out some pictures of Jo taken on Oct 3 that are too funny not to share. Enjoy!

We are looking forward to learning how things go in the den with a mixed-age litter. Our very own Jason Sawyer videotaped a mixed age litter in northeastern Minnesota a couple years ago. The video is a preview of what we might see next summer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvEr96tt_Ww. As usual, there is just one older cub, and multiple younger ones.

Jo ! ! ! - October 3, 2010
It is undoubtedly a situation similar to what happened with Lily and Hope. The older cub probably couldn’t nurse enough to prevent the mother from coming into estrus and mating. Somehow, the lone cub survived through the estrus period in late spring and early summer and went on to den with the mother who gave birth to a new litter.

The lone yearling in this litter looks small, so it may have had a hard time surviving through the estrus period—probably on its own. We saw what a hard time Hope had on her own.

This video shows that the presence of an older cub (yearling) in the den does not necessarily mean the new litter will die. We wonder, though, how many other litters might have died due to interactions with an older cub. We are hoping that Lily will give birth to a new litter and that all will emerge healthy in April. So many questions about how they all will relate, who will share the milk, etc. We have much to learn.

On another topic, this is the week the MN DNR will be deciding whether to protect radio-collared bears. The discussion we’ve heard is mainly about how that might inconvenience hunters by requiring them to look for ribbons and collars. However, in looking at the DNR’s mission statement http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/aboutdnr/mission.html, we think the discussion should be broader than that. We are reminded of a quote on page 63 in the latest issue of The Wildlife Professional (fall 2010), a magazine put out by The Wildlife Society. In an article about the need for changes in hunting regulations, Thomas Decker, Chief of Operations for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, is quoted saying,

“Some people will say that the only people in our society who should debate these things are the hunters themselves. But the resources are managed in the public trust. They’re owned by no one and managed for the benefit of everyone, including people who don’t hunt.”

The peer-reviewed article goes on to say that “All people who value wildlife should therefore add their voices to the conversation.” That is exactly what you are doing in asking for protection of about a dozen radio-collared bears in this study and a couple dozen in the DNR’s study.

These research bears are immensely valuable to science, education, and regional economics. They have a value to the broader society that is beyond hunting. No longer should it be left up to individual hunters to decide whether they care more about filling their tags than about research, education, and regional economics.

The ribbons we place on the collars are very visible and durable. We don’t know why the decision to protect these few radio-collared bears is so difficult. It is not about hunting versus anti-hunting. It is about sparing these few bears for their other values.

The letters we have seen from you are excellent. Words we heard about you from merchants at the North American Bear Center yesterday were appreciative. They are noting what you are doing to benefit Ely through your voting and through your visits and expenditures in the Ely area. They know this is a result of the radio-collared research bears.

Thank you for all you do.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:53 pm

Update November 2, 2010 – 5:59 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Wednesday, 03 November 2010 at 01:05
Is it too much to ask?

Late fall in Ely - November 2, 2010
Is it too much to ask hunters to look for ribbons and collars? Probably less than 25 out of the 10,000 bear hunters will even see a radio-collared bear. In our study area where hunters will be alerted about the dozen or so radio-collared bears, maybe a half dozen hunters will see one. Total hunters in the study area between Ely and Tower are probably less than a hundred.

Are hunters required to look twice at other game before they shoot? That is best answered by William Dilks, a Minnesota hunter who posted an eloquent, factual comment on Facebook today. He wrote,

“I'm a hunter and I live in Minnesota. I'm going to comment again on the hunting issue, as I said in a post a few days ago, a hunter needs to clearly identify the target animal and the kill spot. The hunter needs to take enough time to do this if the hunter wants to quickly and humanely kill the target animal. This whole concept is not new, in Minnesota there are deer hunting zones that require that you can only kill Buck Deer with visible antlers, the hunter has to take the time and look. A new regulation in South Eastern Minnesota will require that the Buck Deer have four or more points on the antlers, which will take a little more time. My point here is that hunters already have to take the time necessary to properly identify their target animal, sometimes you only get a very quick view of the animal, but you can't just shoot and look later. You have to properly identify your target, even if that means you have to pass up a possible shot, which I have had to do many times, just like any other hunters. As a pheasant Hunter I can only take male (Rooster) pheasants, and when 10 pheasants come squawking out of the cover and some are hens, I have to take the time to identify the rooster or not shoot. I'm also a duck hunter. Some ducks are not legal to harvest. In the dim dawn of the day, you had better take the time to identify the species, and sometimes the sex of duck, even if that means you have to pass up the shot. I cannot stress enough the good hunter wants and needs to clearly see and identify the kill spot on the animal they’re intending to harvest, which means you have to take the time to carefully identify and place your shot or not shoot.”

That makes me ask why giving protection to a few radio-collared bears wearing ribbons is so hard to decide.

Having to look twice to check for a radio-collar and ribbons is not much of an inconvenience to hunters. The bright ribbons are hard to miss and are plenty durable. Hunters will be alerted to the presence of radio-collared bears in our main study area because of the signs we put up on all the roads. Hunters there could be further alerted about the research, ribbons, and collars by letters from the MN DNR to every hunter who draws a permit for this area. The DNR sent out such letters in 2009, and hunters were interested and cooperative. None of our radio-collared bears were shot. In 2010, the DNR skipped the letter, and two were shot. We heard the letter was scrapped in 2010 for budget reasons. If they would protect bears and send out such a letter in the future, we would help pay, perhaps partly with donations from you.

We hope Dr. Garshelis is effective in influencing administrators to protect radio-collared bears in Minnesota. We believe the meeting is this week, but we don’t know the date. We also hope his efforts to reduce people’s fear of bears were effective on The Colbert Report four days ago http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/thu-october-28-2010-maira-kalman.

Dave was also good enough to share more information with us today.

Lynn,
Thanks for checking with me on this. Archery kills are 18-20% of the harvest, and muzzleloaders are about 2%. Crossbows are insignificant as they are only legal for handicapped hunters.

I think the point to make is that protection of collared bears would have little impact on hunters. Hunters would normally be “looking twice” to ensure they have a good shot. The markings we put on are so obvious that it requires no extra effort to see them. My argument is that we are not asking hunters to do anything more than hunt normally. The responsibility for making the bears highly visible is ours, as researchers.

I think we also have to acknowledge – and this is where you and I differ – that people will make mistakes no matter how visible the markings are. Those who do are not criminals, and should not be treated as such. I think your signs posted in the area will help prevent people from making a mistake in the “excitement of the moment”. As for a letter from the DNR – certainly if this goes through, hunters will be amply warned.

We do dens in Dec, Feb and March.

Can you refer me to the Ontario study with the much higher wounding rate?

Dave

Again, if any of us erred related to this, please do not post comments about it.

On another subject, for the past several days, when we click to enlarge pictures in the updates, nothing happens on Facebook unless they are viewed through the ‘Notes’ tab, but they do enlarge on bear.org. To see view the updates on bear.org; look at the top of the home page, hover on Lily & Hope, click on Research Updates.

The engineers and technicians working on the den cams are sending many emails back and forth. The principals are located in South Africa, Pennsylvania, Florida, England, and Minnesota. They are considering simple solutions and enhanced options, depending upon what they can make work. Complicated options that might not work yet this year will be on the table again next winter as technology improves.

Your work for Ely’s Schools is within 10 days of a win. With our lead of 3,026 to 1,252 votes over second place, we’re betting no one can catch us.

We ate more of your goodies today. Thank you for all you do.

—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:55 pm

Update November 3, 2010 – 8:58 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 04 November 2010 at 03:16
Reviewing footage

Hope and Lynn Rogers - June 2010
Today was a day of reviewing video footage people have sent. Some of it was of Lily and Hope, which resurrected the intense challenges of the separation, decisions, and daily efforts. It also brought back the feelings of satisfaction of doing the right thing. Sue found this photo she took of a satisfying moment shortly after Hope discovered the feeding site in early June.

Another video we watched was an interview with hunters who had just taken their first bear. It shows the need to give protection to radio-collared bears. Simply asking hunters to spare radio-collared bears is not cutting it—especially when that message is couple with assurance that shooting a bear is legal. I don’t know how many times hunters have told us ‘If you don’t want radio-collared bears shot, make it illegal.’ The hunters in the interview seemed like good guys who had no idea what damage would be done taking a radio-collared bear.

The video shows the hunters with the bear they shot.

First hunter: I’ve been coming up here since about 1987 and this is actually the first live bear I’ve seen in the woods. I’ve never seen a bear. They’re just like the ghosts of the woods, I think.

Interviewer: Did this bear have a collar on?

Both hunters: No, no, nope.

Interviewer: What do you think you would do if you saw a collared bear in the woods?

First hunter: Now I’d probably let it go, but if I hadn’t gotten this one I’d probably shoot it so I could say I got that first one.

Second hunter: Get the first one under your belt, yes.

First hunter: But since I got one now, I’d probably let that one go so they can do the research that they’re trying to do on them.

My thought: Is that what the hunter thought when he shot Sarah, snipped off her ribbons, wiped the blood off the collar except for specks under the flap, and turned it in anonymously? We must get protection before Lily, Hope, June, or any other radio-collared bear comes to a hunters’ bait next fall.

Dr. Garshelis asked for more information about wounding loss, especially about the Ontario data that showed the 13% wounding loss. The information from Ontario should arrive here next week. Meanwhile, here is a link to an article in an Ontario magazine http://onnaturemagazine.com/why-fear-the-bear.html/2 with quotes by Ontario bear biologist Dr. Martyn Obbard and other notables, including Ainslie Willock, who stated, “Even with bait, one in eight bears killed is wounded,” basing her statement on that same wounding data.

Additional data on wounding loss were published in the peer-reviewed journal Ursus (http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_16_2/Koehler_Pierce_Vol_16_2.pdf) Of 39 radio-collared bears shot during hunting season in Washington, 5 (13%) escaped and died (Page 161). These 39 that were killed do not include wounded bears that survived.

When we speak of wounding loss, we broadly think of bears shot and lost by the hunter. Some die. Some survive. We think of wounding loss as one of the biggest problem in bear hunting. It is the reason we join the chorus of hunters who urge all hunters to take the time to pick a killing shot so they don’t wound bear after bear before killing one on the spot. More on this when we get the Ontario information.

It was one of you who brought the Washington study to our attention. Thank you. So many of you are working behind the scenes in so many ways. Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:55 pm

Update November 4, 2010 – 8:58 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Friday, 05 November 2010 at 03:42
Bear news from the North American Bear Center

Ella Ingram and Sharon Herrell spread moss outside Ted and Lucky's den - October 21, 2010
On October 21, when the staff at the Bear Center learned that a wild bear, 10-year-old Dot, had used moss for bedding, Ella Ingram, a visiting professor of education, and Sharon Herrell, the program director, gathered moss and put it in the denning area. Little Lucky proceeded to rake it into the den he will share with his friend big Ted.

On October 31, the three bears each stepped onto the scale. Big Ted (13) weighed an even 700. Honey (14), the female, was 492. Little Lucky (3), a male, was 328 pounds and he wanted his bed to be just right. Since then, Lucky has mostly stayed in his den of moss. Only once did he accompany Ted when Ted made his daily appearance away from the den. Honey is spending a lot of time in her separate den by the viewing windows. The back of that den is open to the windows, so visitors to the Bear Center can see her.

Lucky raking moss into the den - October 21, 2010
The dens have only natural leaves and moss for bedding, no straw. People gathered bags of leaves and moss, dumped it outside the dens, and the bears did the rest. They will probably make appearances through Thanksgiving. We are working on a camera for Ted and Lucky’s den to show on a monitor in the Bear Center and possibly on bear.org.

Dr. Garshelis kindly provided background on the 13% wounding loss in Washington that we mentioned in last night’s update.

“Lynn, I would like to comment on the update that you posted, and sent to Dennis Simon, Commissioner Holsten, and Representative Dill. It is a shame, in my view, that you continue to pursue the “wounding loss” angle to your argument to protect collared bears.

I was well aware of the Washington study that you mentioned – I have cited it a number of times, and know the first author personally (I visited him during his study). His study was designed, in large part, to assess the effects of a ban on baiting and hound-hunting on the bear harvest. He reported a high wounding loss rate, but did not say whether this occurred both before and after the ban on these hunting techniques (obviously both bait and hound hunting enable hunters to take shots at closer range). He did specifically comment that the wounding losses were due to hunters not being able to find dead bears in the thick vegetation. Indeed, the wounding loss was 20% in the rainforest of the Olympic peninsula, where they have 150 inches of rain per year. Wounding loss was 0% on their study area with just over 20 inches of rainfall – more similar to the conditions across the bear range in Minnesota. Due to these important factors, one cannot just transfer data from one place to another. Since we have data in Minnesota – in fact the largest sample that I know of anywhere in North America (270 hunter kills of collared bears, 5 not recovered = <2%) – the results of studies from elsewhere are irrelevant. (Likewise, the nuisance kill in Washington – 24% overall – is 3-4x greater than in Minnesota).

If you are trying to educate an audience of 200,000 people, it is important to get all the facts, and not let your fans – who came up with this article – drive your arguments. We are only discussing whether collared bears in Minnesota should be protected, so let’s just look at the data from Minnesota.

Furthermore, if you argue the case that the collared bears are very clearly marked and easy to see -- so it would NOT be an extra burden on hunters to identify them as such -- then it seems counter-productive to argue that forcing hunters to avoid collared bears would make them more careful in the shots they take, thus reducing wounding losses. Dave”

Dave has a good point that dense vegetation makes it harder to find bears after they have been shot.

On the subject of protecting radio-collared bears, we realize that it’s easy to see ribbons (and usually the radio-collars themselves) on the study bears. But the argument we keep hearing, often from officials, is that looking for collars and ribbons might be too much of burden for hunters. We say that looking twice should not be considered a burden. Most hunters consider it good hunting practice to not only look for a collar but to take the extra moment to make a clean, killing shot and avoid a shot that just wounds a bear. We can add to the discussion on wounding next week when we get information from Ontario where habitat is very similar to Minnesota’s.

Thank you much, Dave, for your input. Always interesting. Every fact makes the picture a little clearer.

On another subject, a Lily fan forwarded an excellent article http://www.onlinedigitalpubs.com/display_article.php?id=465460 on habituated bears. Authored by Sherry Simpson, it appeared in the September 2010 issue of Alaska Magazine. The article is unusual because I couldn’t find one error in it (except that some of the lines got mixed up in the printing, making it hard to follow in a couple places). The topic of habituation is often fraught with misconceptions. Not this article.

It points out that bears that have neither positive nor negative experiences in repeated exposure to people learn to ignore them and go about their business. They don’t become more likely to attack. The author is writing about the habituated brown/grizzly bears in Katmai National Park where the big bears ignore observers and pay attention to things that really count in their lives.

We mentioned the article here because what the author says about the brown bears holds for the black bears in this study. They mostly ignore us, and that’s what enables us to do the kind of research we do. Usually, we are inconsequential to the bears. They go about their business, even with video cameras in their faces. If we need to work on their radio-collars, etc., we offer a handful of nuts and do what we have to with the radio-collars. Our work on the radio-collars is associated with the positive experience of eating the nuts. They ignore us. They finish the nuts. They go back to their business, and we go back to being ignored.

The author did a great job. Just the truth and nothing but the truth, and that’s unusual in articles about bears.

Meanwhile, you are working behind the scenes in many ways and we thank you for all you are doing.

—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:56 pm

Update November 5, 2010 – 7:07 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 06 November 2010 at 17:43
The Chase Grant

On Wednesday, we heard from administrators at Chase Community Giving. This evening, we emailed them the following message that they will probably get on Monday.

Dear Dana and Delilah,

We are deeply grateful for J P Morgan Chase’s willingness to help community efforts like ours through the Chase Community Giving Program. We are also thankful for the thousands of people who went to great lengths to vote support for the North American Bear Center. Their dedication and your generosity will never be forgotten.

The North American Bear Center, located near Ely, MN, is a relatively new organization dedicated to promoting the long-term survival of black bear populations through education. We opened in May 2007. An unexpected mushrooming of worldwide interest has given the North American Bear Center an unforeseen opportunity to educate. This past year, supporters/followers grew from a few thousand to over 200,000 (117,000 on Facebook), while visits to bear.org increased from less than a half million per year to over 11 million per year. Volunteer committees are forming around the world to help spread the Bear Center’s educational message. Others are working to reduce our start-up debt and fund our developing educational outreach program.

Your $100,000 grant will jump-start the above, including the items below.

Reduce principal and interest payments so more funds can be diverted to educational outreach.
Develop online lesson plans that meet state requirements for teaching about bears in schools and libraries across America.
Build an Education Building with classrooms, library, office space, and room to store educational materials being developed for circulation to classrooms and libraries across America.
Expand exhibits at the North American Bear Center
Expand our website information and upgrade its servers.
Place web cams in dens.
Upgrade the Bear Center’s interpretive nature trails.

We will initially apply your grant to debt reduction to reduce interest payments but will borrow it back as needed to make progress on items 2-7. We will progress as rapidly and frugally as possible using volunteers, donated materials, fundraisers, and unforeseen donations wherever we can. We look forward to sending you a report in about a year detailing all that your generous grant has helped make possible.

Sincerely, Lynn Rogers, Chairman

Honey emerging from her den - March 5, 2009
To all Lily fans, thank you again for your unbelievable efforts that made this possible. We anticipate that they will soon send the money so we can post it on the thermometer and celebrate.

And, in just a week, the Ely Schools contest ends. At this point, you have Ely Schools in the lead 3032 to 1394 (2nd place). So it looks like we will be celebrating that, too.

Engineers are working on den cams for Lily and Hope and for Ted and Lucky. The picture is of Honey emerging from her den of a couple years ago. Her chances of having cubs this winter are about nil, but if she did, we’d switch Ted and Lucky’s den cam to her.

Meanwhile, groups of you are working on new things across the nation and now around the world. More on that as things develop. You are a growing force for bears.

The Bear Center is now accepting orders for a 2011 Shadow's Clan calendar! You can order yours at http://www.bear.org/website/gift-shop.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=558.

Thank you for your donations and all you do.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:56 pm

Update November 6, 2010 – 7:12 PM CDT
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 07 November 2010 at 02:13
Happy Birthday, Donna Rogers!

Donna & Lynn celebrate - November 6, 2010
You know what the highlight was today. You made a terrific party for Donna. Thank you Birthday Team. Two kinds of lasagna delivered in big hot silver pans, a huge salad, 5 kinds of ice cream, 2 big cakes, balloons, signs, touching cards that Donna loved, and a great group of fun people to share the celebration. Jim and Jackie Runions videotaped and photographed everything so you could see. Everything was delicious, and the bear touches tied it all together. What a growing group of friends. We saw many of your posts on the wall. People with computers and iphones showed others the posts. We knew we were part of a big celebration. Donna felt special. Check the wall for Jim and Jackie’s posts.

Thank you once again for all you do to tie us all together.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:58 pm

Update November 7, 2010 – 8:32 PM CST (revised)
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 08 November 2010 at 03:06
Daring to Trust

June sleeping in a hunting stand - August 3, 2007
We’re still remembering yesterday’s birthday festivities as we eat the delicious leftovers. Lynn went for a birthday walk and drive with Donna today. Then they went home to nibble at the birthday cake you sent. Even while saying “Neither one of us needs this,” they helplessly ate away.

No bear news today but lots of talk about how best to set up a den cam in Lily and Hope’s den far from electricity and telephone. Words frequently heard included 3G, WiFi, tower, elevation, terrain, distance, etc.

The research bears are settled in dens. We have located most dens and have approximate locations from telemetry readings on the others. The deer hunt is in progress and we will concentrate on office work until the hunt is over. Then we’ll recheck den locations to see if any bears moved during the hunt.

If you’re a hunter, and ever wondered who or what had used your hunting stand when you weren’t around, this picture is for you! On August 3, 2007, we found June sleeping in a very rickety hunting stand built between 2 cedar trees. Her 3 cubs (Lily, Cal, and Bud) were safely resting in one of the trees.

Lynn (71) wants to write a book before he loses his marbles. He wrote the forward today. It obviously needs editing, but it’s a start. Here it is. We’ll see where it goes. Expect more in the days to come.

Book title: Daring to Trust: my life studying black bears. By Lynn Rogers

Foreword

When I began studying black bears in 1967, I feared them the same as anyone else does. I’d grown up hearing the same warnings, seeing the same snarling taxidermy, and reading the same hunting magazines. So when I captured bears in foot snares or live traps, their ferocious-looking behavior confirmed my worst fears. And in those days of traps and tranquilizers, I never dared to give a bear a chance to show what it is really like. They scared me, and I was not about to risk injury.

Cautious as I was, there were still close calls.

But years went by without injury. No bear came after me and hurt me. Bit by bit, I opened my mind and, to an extent, my heart. I began to interpret their behavior in terms of their fear rather than my fear. I realized they are basically timid. I learned their language.

Eventually, I found myself walking with them day and night—24 hours at a time—as mothers calmly foraged and nursed their cubs. Gone were the days of traps and tranquilizers. No longer was I corrupting data with capture injuries or tranquilizer deaths. Instead, trust and occasional treats enabled me to give them radio-collars, take their heart rates, and watch them live. The less they feared me, the more they showed me. They did not attack as many predicted. Day after day, they replaced misconceptions with data. They simply ignored me and went about their lives. I was not a competitor nor a significant food-giver. I was not an enemy nor an object of affection. I became part of the woodwork, and they showed me more about black bear life than I ever dreamed possible. And it goes on.

Looking back now, knowing their language and ways, I can explain all my so-called close calls. Their ferocious-looking behaviors were ritualized expressions of their own apprehensions.

This book is about the events that shaped my view of black bears and led to ever kinder, gentler, and revealing research methods.

Again, thank you for all you do.

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

**whitestarling** Mon Nov 08, 2010 2:33 pm

Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub - Page 19 768480

Thanks AM great to get another update, but I'm working in the Pub for 2 weeks so I will have to catch up later
WS

**littlewid** Mon Nov 08, 2010 6:05 pm

Thank you so much for that Anne-Marie bounce

I'm going to savour them all for tomorrow and read it all in one go. It will be like picking up my favourite book and having a good old read with a hot chocolate Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub - Page 19 853843

Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub - Page 19 853843

littlewid-x-

Anne-Marie1981 Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:42 pm

Oh my gosh, I've not posted in here for so long. I'll see if I can pinch chris's laptop tomorrow and update for you.
Good news is that they are setting up the webcam to Lily and Hope's den cheers

I just hope I have time to watch it Shocked

**littlewid** Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:07 pm

OOOOOOOOO catch ups yes please bounce

so looking forward to the Lily and Hope Den cam Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub - Page 19 853843

Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub - Page 19 71418

littlewid-x-

**whitestarling** Fri Dec 03, 2010 10:41 pm

Whooooppppeee Thats great news that they are setting up the Cam again, and looking forward to catching up on the news
Thanks AM
WS

**Laikipia** Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:32 am

Looking forward to the webcam again -

Lai

Safari Maiden Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:14 pm

Brilliant news AM. Cant wait to see it. It lily is pregnant will see give birth in the den again even with Hope there too?

SM

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:23 pm

Are you all sitting comfortably? Hehe!!

Update November 8, 2010 – 9:35 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 09 November 2010 at 04:33
Wounding loss

The information arrived on wounding losses in Ontario. Altogether, the data from Dr. Garshelis from Minnesota, the data from Washington, and the data from Ontario give a more complete picture of wounding than any of those data sets alone. Comparing Ontario and Minnesota is helpful because the habitat is similar and both have baiting. The advantage of baiting is that it gives hunters a clear, close shot to minimize wounding. The idea is to make it easier to pick a killing shot, so hunters don’t wound bear after bear until they shoot one dead.

Ontario asks hunters about wounding so they can add those bears to their kill figures and make sure they are not killing an unsustainable number of bears. They assume that wounded bears will die. Here are their numbers from hunting seasons in 1993 to 1996.

In 1993, 870 (11%) of 7,641 bears that were shot escaped.
In 1994, 970 (12%) of 8,171 bears that were shot escaped.
In 1995, 1,227 (13%) of 9,370 bears that were shot escaped.
In 1996, 389 (6%) of 6,258 bears that were shot escaped.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On the average, 864 (11%) of 7,860 bears that were shot escaped.

So we wonder how many of the wounded bears died.

Dr. Garshelis’ data from his radio-collared bears help answer that. He found that only 5 (2%) of 270 bears that hunters shot escaped and died. How many escaped and healed? Here, the differences in research methods help provide an answer.

In Ontario, wounding data were collected by asking hunters how many bears they wounded (11%). In Minnesota, wounding data were collected by finding dead radio-collared bears that hunters shot and couldn’t find—only 2%. Very different approaches. If wounding loss in Minnesota is indeed comparable to that in Ontario, considering the similar habitat and hunting methods, it may be that both places have an average 11% wounding rate, of which 2% die and 9% heal.

That would mean good news for Ontario. If 11% of the bears shot escape on the average, and Ontario official assumed that all 864 died, the good news is that only 157 died while 707 healed.

On the other hand, that would mean bad news for Minnesota. If 11 percent of the bears that are shot in Minnesota escape, and if the average known kill is around 3,000, it is likely that 3,371 are shot, of which 3,000 are found by the hunters, 67 escape and die, and 303 escape and heal. That’s more wounding that has been assumed.

And that’s under ideal shooting conditions in Ontario and Minnesota where bears come to bait, linger and eat, and present a number of shots, giving patient hunters a chance to make a quick kill.

That would mean even worse news for Washington where there may or may not have been baiting. The author does not tell us. However, we know that voters banned baiting around the time of his study. The author found that 13 percent of his radio-collared bears were shot, escaped, and died. How many additional of his radio-collared bears were shot, escaped, and healed? If we apply the above ratios to his numbers the wounding rate without bait would be horrific. Comparing 2% dying to 9% healing means that for each bear that escapes and dies in Washington, 4.5 escape and heal. 13% times 4.5 is 58%. Could it be that in the very dense foliage that Dr. Garshelis mentioned for Washington, taking shots at bears that are not at baits results in a 58% wounding rate? That’s a question that should be researched, and it was not addressed in the publication.

Dr. Garshelis mentioned that most of the wounding loss in Minnesota was from archery. It is possible that there is less use of archery in the dense underbrush of Washington State, which would reduce that 58% wounding figure.

Another question. Dr. Garshelis mentioned that he examines bears for wounds in dens. How could wounded bears be missed doing that? Easy. Black bears have amazing ability to heal wounds during hibernation. Finding healed wounds under very dense fur at dens is very difficult. Most wounding in Minnesota occurs in early September in the first two weeks of bear hunting season when most of the bears are taken. By the time Minnesota biologists visit dens, usually in late February or March, but occasionally in December, all but the most serious wounds would be very difficult to find under the dense fur. No blood would show. The wounds would be dry. Only serious wounds would be obvious in dens in spring, like the wounds Dave mentioned a few updates back. Like some we have seen. For example, a female who had the distal half of her lower jaw shot off was plenty obvious, but the wound was dry and healed by the time we saw it in spring at a den back in the old days of tranquilizing bears. More recently, a big male we saw walking around with a bone sticking out of his leg in late September would have been obvious in a den. Very serious wounds can continue to ooze pus for years. However, many of the wounds end up being scars we can find in the fur because we know where to look—wounds we watched heal—wounds that at first dripped blood and then closed up. Some end up being a divot in the skin where the underlying muscle was shot away, but these depressions in the skin would not be obvious at dens when biologists are quickly trying to get weights, measurements, blood samples, and change radio-collars before the drugs wear off. Actually, finding wounds at dens may not be as easy as spotting active bears limping. Some bears carry multiple wounds.

To a large extent, what a researcher discovers depends upon the methods used. Several methods can reveal more than can be learned by one method. In this case, comparing results from the different methods used to detect wounding in Ontario and Minnesota reveals more about wounding, or at least raises more questions about wounding, than either method could do on its own. The tentative conclusion is that the death rate of wounded bears in Ontario is likely lower than Ontario officials assumed, and the wounding rate in Minnesota is likely higher than Minnesota officials assumed.

Again, we join the chorus of hunters who say the way to avoid wounding a bear is to look twice, be patient, and wait for a killing shot. It also gives hunters time to look for radio-collars and ribbons.

We thank Dr. Garshelis for sharing his wounding data, giving perspective on the Washington wounding data, and providing the information that most of the wounding he found is from archery. Dr. Garshelis is one of the leading bear biologists in the world and is often consulted by biologists around the world regarding population estimation and bear management. It is important that his radio-collared bears and ours be protected so we can continue our research.

Again, if any of us erred in any way in this, please don’t post comments.

On another subject, you might want to wait to order calendars. Two more are coming—Lily and Hope, and Ted, Lucky, and Honey calendars. Plus holiday cards and new clothing designs. You can save postage ordering everything at once. For the people who ordered the single calendar already, they are going to put an extra gift into your packages.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:23 pm

Update November 9, 2010 – 7:49 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Wednesday, 10 November 2010 at 03:38
Unique and Specialized

Bear-watching in Alaska
Word from the hunting camp near Lily and Hope’s den is that the hunters are staying well away from the den and went through the first weekend of deer season without firing a shot.

The weather is clear and calm with temperatures near 60—about as beautiful as it can get in early November, but the bears are not roaming here in the Northwoods. Some will still be raking bedding into their dens, while they all rest more and more.

Lynn is an obsessive editor and has rewritten the introduction to his book several times. Sue says one of these days he has to move on to page 2. Here is the link to the much revised and expanded version http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/research-updates/671-daring-to-trust.html. Lynn thinks this could be it.

The introduction reminded us how unique and specialized this study is. It is an intensive study of a few bears to obtain insights into their behavior and ecology that could not be obtained any other way. There is no substitute for watching bears that trust and ignore you. We are not aware of anyone else doing this type of research. We began in the mid-1980’s. Terry DeBruyn worked with us briefly and then did a similar study that we helped fund in Michigan in the late 1980’s. It was his Ph.D. project, and the book he wrote about it “Walking With Bears” is one of the best bear books out there.

Nobody has picked up on the method and done anything like it since. And there are good reasons. Most graduate students can’t put enough time into their project to gain the trust of wild bears to observe natural behavior. Most government jobs have rules about number or hours worked. Many colleges won’t allow interns to work closely with bears. Some parts of the US have too many poisonous snakes to follow bears through forest and swamp at night. Some areas have terrain that makes keeping up with bears too difficult. Many studies require too large a sample size to gain the trust of individual bears for radio-collaring.

Research methods are dictated by the research objectives. Many studies require tranquilizing to implant monitors or do physiological biopsies, blood sampling, tooth extraction for aging, etc. Some require ear-tagging and/or tattooing for permanent identification.

We don’t do any of that. Our objective is to observe natural behavior. We build trust and don’t do anything to make bears worry that we might be about to hurt them. That’s why they ignore us and go about their lives. We offer them limited treats in exchange for letting us replace radio-collars, take heart rates, or examine them for injuries. Building trust is the only way to learn the true nature of bears and see how they live undisturbed.

There are a few places in the world where other species of bears might trust people enough to walk with them. In Alaska, some coastal brown bears are so used to people that they ignore them (picture). Lynn accompanied a mother with cubs at distances as close as 6 feet while video-taping them. In Kamchatka, Charlie Russell raised orphaned brown bear cubs and walked with them as adolescents and young adults as they explored the countryside and established wild territories. On Wrangel Island north of Russian, Nikita Ovsyanikov walks among polar bears carrying only a stick. In Alaska, Dr. Steve Stringham, Kent Fredrickson, and Tim Treadwell regularly are/were extremely close to brown bears without a problem. Tim Treadwell was not killed as a result of walking with bears as a benign observer. He was killed running a bear out of his camp. Confronting and challenging bears that powerful apparently had its limits. For the most part, the bears accepted Tim and basically ignored him, as Lynn’s pictures of Tim with bears show. One memory Lynn has is of Tim sitting on the ocean beach as a mother and cub came by. They completely ignored Tim as mother and cub stopped to play with each other maybe 8 feet from Tim. Other females feel so comfortable with people that they can avoid males—that are timid around people—by bringing their cubs near people to nurse them.

One of the misconceptions about bears in general is that as bears lose their fear of people, they become more likely to attack. What bears are actually showing us is that they become more likely to ignore us, which is what makes our kind of research possible.

We just noticed that the NABC thermometer is nearing the $400,000 mark, making a major difference in our debt and getting us closer to achieving some of the educational goals we are all about. Thank you so much for all you do.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:23 pm

Update November 10, 2010 – 7:26 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 11 November 2010 at 02:48
Another beautiful day

We didn’t want to bother the wild bears by checking to see what they might be up to, but at the North American Bear Center, little Lucky made one of his occasional appearances. The last couple weeks he has been resting through most days. He has lost 9 pounds (328-9) since October 31.

Lynn emailed the author of the Washington paper on wounding loss for more details.

Author Gary Koehler nicely wrote back, “Lynn: I’ve been out of the bear business since 1997 or so. I’ll have to dig through my records to check out the effects of the initiative on wounding loss, etc. I’m off to the woods to chase cats in the morning (new job is with lynx and cougars) and I’ll dig through my stuff when I return. Good to hear from you.”

We’re looking forward to his information.

Somehow, the wounding loss question brings back memories of the old days of traps, tranquilizers, transmitters, etc. And then a Lily fan discovered an old article about that research that appeared in Sports Illustrated back in 1973. She forwarded the link http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1087178/1/index.htm#ixzz14rqsHI6p.

On the Ely School voting contest to win $20,000, you have Ely leading 3,143 to 1785 over 2nd place. Second place is gaining on us, but with 2 days left, could they possible catch us? They’d have to register 600 votes per day. Is that possible? It’s something to watch. They are making an effort and posting on their page that they are going to win. But dedicated Lily fans have built a lead that will be hard to beat. To vote, go to http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/?refer=9880.01.1284979606.252382.

And then, as if you are not doing enough, two things happened today. The beautiful opal bear pendent on a gold chain you gave to Donna for her birthday arrived. Donna said with reverence in her voice, “This is the most beautiful bear jewelry I’ve ever seen!” A big thank you from Donna.

Then, big boxes of sandwiches from Subway and fresh big cookies from the local bakery arrived for lunch for the Bear Center staff. Thank you again!

Thank you for all you are doing day after day.

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

Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:24 pm

Update November 11, 2010 – 6:06 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Friday, 12 November 2010 at 01:25
Lily & Hope calendar - almost ready!

Lily & Hope Calendar - September
On this windy, chilly day (currently 37 F), bears are probably curled up secure in their dens.

The big event today was reviewing the online proof of the Lily and Hope calendar. If the printed version looks anywhere near as good it looked online, it will be a commemorative treasure of Lily and Hope’s first year of bringing us all together. The 38 pictures include many of the familiar pictures that have come to characterize their lives. The cover picture is the famous picture of gentle Lily’s face. The inside pictures show Hope at her cutest. We see that it includes a picture each of Lynn and Sue, but those pictures didn’t completely take away from pictures of the bears because Hope is in one of them. We’re pleased with how the calendar turned out.

The Ted, Lucky, and Honey calendar we saw a couple days ago also is great. It shows the personalities that make us love these ambassador bears.

The voting contest to win $20,000 for Ely’s Schools had us on our toes as second place surged. But it must have been discouraging for them to see you post over 140 votes to bring the lead to 3,290 to 1,986 over second place with less than 18 hours to go. Lily’s fans are a determined bunch! To vote, go to http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/?refer=9880.01.1284979606.252382.

Your fundraiser auction has pushed the thermometer on bear.org past a milestone—over $400,000! You’re bringing down the debt.

Thank you for all you do!

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

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