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Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:24 pm
Update November 12, 2010 – 5:52 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 13 November 2010 at 01:15
Shadow’s Clan calendar
No bear news today in this time between bears finding dens and the placement of the new Den Cams. With snow in the forecast, we scrambled to clean out the garage to make room for vehicles. All is in order. We’re ready. Bring it on!
The big event today was black-topping the remainder of the parking lot at the Bear Center. That is possible thanks to your purchases this past year. The need for more parking became evident this summer. With the main parking area now paved, we can mark out parking spaces and direct busses, etc., for more orderly parking. A big improvement. Thank you.
The research bear calendar is super. It has pictures of 31 research bears. Although the calendar is called “Shadow’s Clan,” it includes four big males that are members by association. Those are One-eyed Jack, Big Harry, beautiful brown Crackle (6), and Midnight—bears that mate with Shadows female descendents. Most of Shadow’s male descendents have gone elsewhere to mate. Descendents pictured are Lily and Hope, Lily’s brother Cal (3), Lily’s mother June (9), and several of Lily’s aunts and cousins: RC (11) and her cubs Bill, Doug, and Jim; Donna (10); Braveheart (
; Shylow (; Juliet (7) and her cubs Sharon, Shirley, and Boy named Sue; Colleen (7); Sarah (1); Ursula (5); Bow (4); Jo (2); Jewel (1); Jordan (1); Ty (1); JJ (1); Summer (1); and Star (1). The cover is Shadow herself (20). To make sense of the names, we’re updating the family tree and including it with each Shadow’s Clan calendar.
We are lowering the shipping fees and will have them built into the online ordering process in a week, so you might want to hold off ordering unless you want something pronto.
On the voting to raise $20,000 for Ely’s Schools, you came through strong as other schools tried very hard to catch us. They haven’t. With less than 6 hours of voting to go, you have Ely in the lead 3,548 to 2,511. The second place school is predicting a win on their web site, and they did come up with 525 votes in the last 24 hours. But can they come up with a thousand more before midnight? We don’t think so. To make sure we win, vote at http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/?refer=9880.01.1284979606.252382.
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 Saturday, 13 November 2010 at 01:15
Shadow’s Clan calendar
No bear news today in this time between bears finding dens and the placement of the new Den Cams. With snow in the forecast, we scrambled to clean out the garage to make room for vehicles. All is in order. We’re ready. Bring it on!
The big event today was black-topping the remainder of the parking lot at the Bear Center. That is possible thanks to your purchases this past year. The need for more parking became evident this summer. With the main parking area now paved, we can mark out parking spaces and direct busses, etc., for more orderly parking. A big improvement. Thank you.
The research bear calendar is super. It has pictures of 31 research bears. Although the calendar is called “Shadow’s Clan,” it includes four big males that are members by association. Those are One-eyed Jack, Big Harry, beautiful brown Crackle (6), and Midnight—bears that mate with Shadows female descendents. Most of Shadow’s male descendents have gone elsewhere to mate. Descendents pictured are Lily and Hope, Lily’s brother Cal (3), Lily’s mother June (9), and several of Lily’s aunts and cousins: RC (11) and her cubs Bill, Doug, and Jim; Donna (10); Braveheart (
; Shylow (; Juliet (7) and her cubs Sharon, Shirley, and Boy named Sue; Colleen (7); Sarah (1); Ursula (5); Bow (4); Jo (2); Jewel (1); Jordan (1); Ty (1); JJ (1); Summer (1); and Star (1). The cover is Shadow herself (20). To make sense of the names, we’re updating the family tree and including it with each Shadow’s Clan calendar. We are lowering the shipping fees and will have them built into the online ordering process in a week, so you might want to hold off ordering unless you want something pronto.
On the voting to raise $20,000 for Ely’s Schools, you came through strong as other schools tried very hard to catch us. They haven’t. With less than 6 hours of voting to go, you have Ely in the lead 3,548 to 2,511. The second place school is predicting a win on their web site, and they did come up with 525 votes in the last 24 hours. But can they come up with a thousand more before midnight? We don’t think so. To make sure we win, vote at http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/?refer=9880.01.1284979606.252382.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:25 pm
Update November 13, 2010 – 6:38 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 14 November 2010 at 06:30
NABC calendar
Several things happened today—including our first major snowfall. It’s only a few inches so far, but it’s coming down fast and is the first significant accumulation. We’re thinking about the bears snug in their dens. No raking today!
The Ely Schools contest ended yesterday with second place West Hollywood Elementary School in California making a major surge—over 700 votes. But that wasn’t enough to overtake the lead you build up. Plus, you put on a surge of our own—nearly 500 votes—to assure a victory by over a thousand votes. Way to go! To see results as of just a few minutes before voting ended, check https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=164978873536722&set=o.263755115498. This will make news.
Actually it already did, in a way in this letter to the editor http://www.elyecho.com/main.asp?SectionID=17&SubSectionID=34&ArticleID=10806&TM=55221.14. Care2 will officially announce the results after they verify the votes. We heard this might take until December 10.
While it snowed, Bear Center staff were indoors adding items to the web store, including the Lily and Hope Christmas cards. All three calendars are now available for pre-order. The calendars are being printed and will be shipped in a few days. The staff feels bad that the Research Bear Calendar was announced as being available for pre-order before the others were announced. That means some of you are stuck paying double shipping if you ordered that calendar and now order the others. The way the online ordering works it is impossible to combine orders after the fact. To make up for that shortcoming, everyone who ordered the Research Bear Calendar on or before today will get a free gift with your calendar.
Also this afternoon, the Bear Center reduced shipping and handling rates. For orders up to $20, it is now $6.50 in the US, $13 to Canada or Mexico, and $22 to other countries.
A Lily fan discovered a way to raise big dollars for the Bear Center on November 16. That is the date of the GiveMN “Give to the Max Day” when the Minnesota nonprofit organization that gets the most donations of $10 or more wins an extra $20,000. Second place gets an extra $10,000. It’s not the most dollars, it’s the number of donations of $10 or more on that day—only one donation per person counts toward the contest. The North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute are both listed, but for purposes of the contest, it’s best to concentrate on the Bear Center. Only donations on November 16 count toward the big awards. To check it out beforehand, see http://givemn.razoo.com/story/North-American-Bear-Center for NABC and http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wildlife-Research-Institute-1 for WRI. We’re in the process of updating the old information on that site.
Meanwhile, you have been participating in the “Hope for the Holidays” fundraiser the Fundraising Group is hosting. Thank you so much.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Cente
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 14 November 2010 at 06:30
NABC calendar
Several things happened today—including our first major snowfall. It’s only a few inches so far, but it’s coming down fast and is the first significant accumulation. We’re thinking about the bears snug in their dens. No raking today!
The Ely Schools contest ended yesterday with second place West Hollywood Elementary School in California making a major surge—over 700 votes. But that wasn’t enough to overtake the lead you build up. Plus, you put on a surge of our own—nearly 500 votes—to assure a victory by over a thousand votes. Way to go! To see results as of just a few minutes before voting ended, check https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=164978873536722&set=o.263755115498. This will make news.
Actually it already did, in a way in this letter to the editor http://www.elyecho.com/main.asp?SectionID=17&SubSectionID=34&ArticleID=10806&TM=55221.14. Care2 will officially announce the results after they verify the votes. We heard this might take until December 10.
While it snowed, Bear Center staff were indoors adding items to the web store, including the Lily and Hope Christmas cards. All three calendars are now available for pre-order. The calendars are being printed and will be shipped in a few days. The staff feels bad that the Research Bear Calendar was announced as being available for pre-order before the others were announced. That means some of you are stuck paying double shipping if you ordered that calendar and now order the others. The way the online ordering works it is impossible to combine orders after the fact. To make up for that shortcoming, everyone who ordered the Research Bear Calendar on or before today will get a free gift with your calendar.
Also this afternoon, the Bear Center reduced shipping and handling rates. For orders up to $20, it is now $6.50 in the US, $13 to Canada or Mexico, and $22 to other countries.
A Lily fan discovered a way to raise big dollars for the Bear Center on November 16. That is the date of the GiveMN “Give to the Max Day” when the Minnesota nonprofit organization that gets the most donations of $10 or more wins an extra $20,000. Second place gets an extra $10,000. It’s not the most dollars, it’s the number of donations of $10 or more on that day—only one donation per person counts toward the contest. The North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute are both listed, but for purposes of the contest, it’s best to concentrate on the Bear Center. Only donations on November 16 count toward the big awards. To check it out beforehand, see http://givemn.razoo.com/story/North-American-Bear-Center for NABC and http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wildlife-Research-Institute-1 for WRI. We’re in the process of updating the old information on that site.
Meanwhile, you have been participating in the “Hope for the Holidays” fundraiser the Fundraising Group is hosting. Thank you so much.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Cente
Anne-Marie1981- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:25 pm
Update November 14, 2010 – 6:19 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 15 November 2010 at 02:23
Give to the Max Day
With all the bears bedded down for the winter and 5 inches of beautiful snow clinging to branches and covering the ground, we can only think of the bears resting in their dens, drifting to lower and lower metabolisms. If they haven’t done so already, they will soon be reducing their blood flow to their limbs in their effort to conserve energy. You probably saw how it looks on the pond cam. I wish someone had thought to take a picture to show the full beauty of the snowy forest.
The best thing that happened today is learning that 'Team Bear' (Lily the Black Bear’s online fundraiser committee) has gotten behind the GiveMN.org fundraiser for the Bear Center. They are getting together a group of people who will put up matching money to double your dollars for the Bear Center on November 16. That date is GiveMN.org’s official “Give to the Max Day”—when people can put up matching money. That’s also the day when the nonprofit with the most individuals donating will get an extra $20,000. So save your donations for that big day! If you are interested in providing matching money, go to the discussion topic titled "DOUBLE YOUR DOLLARS" MATCHING GRANT DONOR'S LIST for more information.
We also learned that people are going to the GiveMN.org home page and registering to make sure they are all set up for November 16. To register, look on the blue bar at the top of the GiveMN.org home page and click on Sign Up.
In addition, an event was created on the Lily the Bear fan page at https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142521875797098&index=1 with all the information. To put the information on your wall to easily share with your friends, just click the Share button on the event page. It automatically puts it on your Facebook page.
What a difference between this year and last year because of all of you. It is just amazing all that has happened this past year. Thank you all!!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 15 November 2010 at 02:23
Give to the Max Day
With all the bears bedded down for the winter and 5 inches of beautiful snow clinging to branches and covering the ground, we can only think of the bears resting in their dens, drifting to lower and lower metabolisms. If they haven’t done so already, they will soon be reducing their blood flow to their limbs in their effort to conserve energy. You probably saw how it looks on the pond cam. I wish someone had thought to take a picture to show the full beauty of the snowy forest.
The best thing that happened today is learning that 'Team Bear' (Lily the Black Bear’s online fundraiser committee) has gotten behind the GiveMN.org fundraiser for the Bear Center. They are getting together a group of people who will put up matching money to double your dollars for the Bear Center on November 16. That date is GiveMN.org’s official “Give to the Max Day”—when people can put up matching money. That’s also the day when the nonprofit with the most individuals donating will get an extra $20,000. So save your donations for that big day! If you are interested in providing matching money, go to the discussion topic titled "DOUBLE YOUR DOLLARS" MATCHING GRANT DONOR'S LIST for more information.
We also learned that people are going to the GiveMN.org home page and registering to make sure they are all set up for November 16. To register, look on the blue bar at the top of the GiveMN.org home page and click on Sign Up.
In addition, an event was created on the Lily the Bear fan page at https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142521875797098&index=1 with all the information. To put the information on your wall to easily share with your friends, just click the Share button on the event page. It automatically puts it on your Facebook page.
What a difference between this year and last year because of all of you. It is just amazing all that has happened this past year. Thank you all!!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologist, 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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:26 pm
November 15, 2010 – 6:09 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 02:08
Give to the Max Day - Tomorrow!
View of Woods Lake from the WRI Field Station - November 15, 2010
We know what you mean when you talk about bear withdrawal. We haven’t seen a bear for nearly two weeks. That was Lily and Hope when we visited them with the landowners. Now, with snow on the ground, we hate to leave tracks to dens, and we want the bears to settle in with no disturbance unless absolutely necessary, like placing a den cam. The picture is out the window from the Research Cabin looking across Woods Lake. The snow is still beautiful but temperatures are still up around freezing, so Woods Lake is not yet frozen.
Hibernation is not just a bear going to sleep. It’s a reduction of metabolic rate that continues whether they are asleep or awake. Reduced metabolism means reduced oxygen consumptions, so they breathe more slowly with a long intake, then holding the breath a few seconds, and a long exhale. They typically breath 2 ½ to 4 times a minute, but some only take breaths every 45 seconds or so. Heart rate is also reduced along with reduced circulation to the limbs. There is more about hibernation at http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/black-bear-facts/hibernation.html.
Today, we reviewed Programs 2 and 3 of the new Bearwalker series that the BBC will show in the United Kingdom about mid-winter, starring Lily, Hope, Juliet and cubs, and Gordon Buchanan. We (Lynn and Sue) are in the programs a bit, but we like seeing Gordon, who does a good job. We’re not sure when the 3 programs will be shown in North America. We hope they are shown far and wide many times. They show bears how they are, not the sensationalized danger seen in most programs. People will gain a better understanding of bear behavior and much less fear. We have been asked how our research helps bear management. The best way is by giving the public and public officials a better understanding of bears. For the public, this means people can enjoy the forest more fully without excessive fear of bears. It means fewer nuisance complaints to officials. It means people are more willing to coexist with bears. And that means more bears for viewing and hunting. During the decades of this research project, attitudes toward bears have changed enough that the population has about quadrupled. To us, a better understanding of bears is at the core of many issues. So much of bear management has to do with relations between people and bears. This project is one of the few that addresses bear-human issues.
We heard that yesterday was the second highest day for web orders in the history of the Bear Center. Thank you. When you place an order, it initially is given a status of ‘Confirmed’ if the payment registered and all is well. A status of ‘Pending’ means the payment did not go through. Bear Center staff then change the order status as they process your order. A status of ‘In Process’ means your order has been received and all is well. A status of ‘Backordered’ means an item is temporarily out of stock. Of course, a status of ‘Shipped’ is what we are all want to see.
Along the line of new merchandise for Christmas, we heard today that the high definition Blu-Ray version of “Bearwalker of the Northwoods” will be out within a month. It has not been added to the web store yet, though.
It’s gratifying to see all you’re doing to get ready for GiveMN’s “Give to the Max Day” tomorrow. Team Bear, our online fundraising committee, is quite successfully gathering commitments from generous fans who want to donate toward a matching fund for tomorrow's donation drive. If you would like to donate matching funds, go to Lily’s Facebook discussion page topic: "DOUBLE YOUR DOLLARS" MATCHING GRANT DONOR'S LIST and post that you would like to contribute toward the matching funds grant. These matching fund commitments need to be tallied up by 11 PM Central Time tonight so we can fill out the matching grant form.
The matching fund donations are above and beyond what will be donated tomorrow and will serve as enticement for tomorrow’s donors since their dollars will be doubled! Also, this matching fund will make the ‘North American Bear Center’ name more visible with a highlight.
We hope this effort will generate interest among people who have never heard of the Bear Center before. When they see how many loyal people support us, how could they resist but to want to check us out and learn more?
Donations can begin tonight at 12:00 midnight Central Time. Multiple small donations count for more than one large one. Direct links to our organizations are: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/North-American-Bear-Center and http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wildlife-Research-Institute-1
We saw your response to the fundraising committee’s auctions. Thank you.
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 Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 02:08
Give to the Max Day - Tomorrow!
View of Woods Lake from the WRI Field Station - November 15, 2010
We know what you mean when you talk about bear withdrawal. We haven’t seen a bear for nearly two weeks. That was Lily and Hope when we visited them with the landowners. Now, with snow on the ground, we hate to leave tracks to dens, and we want the bears to settle in with no disturbance unless absolutely necessary, like placing a den cam. The picture is out the window from the Research Cabin looking across Woods Lake. The snow is still beautiful but temperatures are still up around freezing, so Woods Lake is not yet frozen.
Hibernation is not just a bear going to sleep. It’s a reduction of metabolic rate that continues whether they are asleep or awake. Reduced metabolism means reduced oxygen consumptions, so they breathe more slowly with a long intake, then holding the breath a few seconds, and a long exhale. They typically breath 2 ½ to 4 times a minute, but some only take breaths every 45 seconds or so. Heart rate is also reduced along with reduced circulation to the limbs. There is more about hibernation at http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/black-bear-facts/hibernation.html.
Today, we reviewed Programs 2 and 3 of the new Bearwalker series that the BBC will show in the United Kingdom about mid-winter, starring Lily, Hope, Juliet and cubs, and Gordon Buchanan. We (Lynn and Sue) are in the programs a bit, but we like seeing Gordon, who does a good job. We’re not sure when the 3 programs will be shown in North America. We hope they are shown far and wide many times. They show bears how they are, not the sensationalized danger seen in most programs. People will gain a better understanding of bear behavior and much less fear. We have been asked how our research helps bear management. The best way is by giving the public and public officials a better understanding of bears. For the public, this means people can enjoy the forest more fully without excessive fear of bears. It means fewer nuisance complaints to officials. It means people are more willing to coexist with bears. And that means more bears for viewing and hunting. During the decades of this research project, attitudes toward bears have changed enough that the population has about quadrupled. To us, a better understanding of bears is at the core of many issues. So much of bear management has to do with relations between people and bears. This project is one of the few that addresses bear-human issues.
We heard that yesterday was the second highest day for web orders in the history of the Bear Center. Thank you. When you place an order, it initially is given a status of ‘Confirmed’ if the payment registered and all is well. A status of ‘Pending’ means the payment did not go through. Bear Center staff then change the order status as they process your order. A status of ‘In Process’ means your order has been received and all is well. A status of ‘Backordered’ means an item is temporarily out of stock. Of course, a status of ‘Shipped’ is what we are all want to see.
Along the line of new merchandise for Christmas, we heard today that the high definition Blu-Ray version of “Bearwalker of the Northwoods” will be out within a month. It has not been added to the web store yet, though.
It’s gratifying to see all you’re doing to get ready for GiveMN’s “Give to the Max Day” tomorrow. Team Bear, our online fundraising committee, is quite successfully gathering commitments from generous fans who want to donate toward a matching fund for tomorrow's donation drive. If you would like to donate matching funds, go to Lily’s Facebook discussion page topic: "DOUBLE YOUR DOLLARS" MATCHING GRANT DONOR'S LIST and post that you would like to contribute toward the matching funds grant. These matching fund commitments need to be tallied up by 11 PM Central Time tonight so we can fill out the matching grant form.
The matching fund donations are above and beyond what will be donated tomorrow and will serve as enticement for tomorrow’s donors since their dollars will be doubled! Also, this matching fund will make the ‘North American Bear Center’ name more visible with a highlight.
We hope this effort will generate interest among people who have never heard of the Bear Center before. When they see how many loyal people support us, how could they resist but to want to check us out and learn more?
Donations can begin tonight at 12:00 midnight Central Time. Multiple small donations count for more than one large one. Direct links to our organizations are: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/North-American-Bear-Center and http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wildlife-Research-Institute-1
We saw your response to the fundraising committee’s auctions. Thank you.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:26 pm
Update November 16, 2010 – 1:48 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 20:16
Wow! You are coming through for the bears!
Big excitement here! The GiveMN.org “Give to the Max Day” is in progress, and you have the North American Bear Center neck and neck with Concordia College to win the $20,000 prize for the most donors. I don’t know how we can find additional donors to give $10 or more.
Your first donation to the NABC gives a point on the leader board found here: http://givemn.razoo.com/p/gtmd-live. Each individual donor counts toward winning the $20,000 first prize or the $10,000 second prize! If you make the Bear Center the non-profit with the most points at the end of the day we win big!
To donate to the North American Bear Center, either click on our name on the leader board or go here: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/North-American-Bear-Center. Remember, only your first donation counts toward the grand tally.
To donate to the Wildlife Research Center, go here: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wildlife-Research-Institute-1.
We are glued to the leaderboard, watching in awe as you vote and watching with suspense as huge corporations are catching up to the Bear Center.
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 Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 20:16
Wow! You are coming through for the bears!
Big excitement here! The GiveMN.org “Give to the Max Day” is in progress, and you have the North American Bear Center neck and neck with Concordia College to win the $20,000 prize for the most donors. I don’t know how we can find additional donors to give $10 or more.
Your first donation to the NABC gives a point on the leader board found here: http://givemn.razoo.com/p/gtmd-live. Each individual donor counts toward winning the $20,000 first prize or the $10,000 second prize! If you make the Bear Center the non-profit with the most points at the end of the day we win big!
To donate to the North American Bear Center, either click on our name on the leader board or go here: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/North-American-Bear-Center. Remember, only your first donation counts toward the grand tally.
To donate to the Wildlife Research Center, go here: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wildlife-Research-Institute-1.
We are glued to the leaderboard, watching in awe as you vote and watching with suspense as huge corporations are catching up to the Bear Center.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:27 pm
Update November 16, 2010 – 5:00 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 23:06
Tight race!
The suspense has us on the edge of our seats. St. Olaf College has roared into second place just 26 points behind us. In this case, it’s not so much how much you give, it’s the number of individuals donating $10 or more. To up the number of donors, Lily fans are calling friends and emailing everyone they know. Many are using one credit card to donate for several family members, each member registering his or her name and email address with all using the same credit card to donate $10 for each person.
It’s a nail-biter with 7 hours to go.
To vote, go to http://givemn.razoo.com/p/gtmd-top50-greatermn and click on the North American Bear Center, register, and vote. Registering is easy—it’s just your name, email, and a password. To use your credit card, it’s just your name and address and credit card info on a secure line.
Minnesota Public Radio mentioned that the North American Bear Center was in first place in the Greater Minnesota area and in line for the $20,000 prize if we stay ahead of the colleges coming up behind us.
It’s a close one. It’s gratifying to see you step up like this.
Oh, and if you want to donate another $10, the Wildlife Research Institute is just 26 votes behind the 10th place nonprofit. Tenth place pays an extra $1,000. To donate $10 or more to WRI, click on the link above, scroll down to Wildlife Research Institute and donate. But it’s most important to keep the Bear Center in the lead.
Thank you for all you are doing with this unusual opportunity.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 23:06
Tight race!
The suspense has us on the edge of our seats. St. Olaf College has roared into second place just 26 points behind us. In this case, it’s not so much how much you give, it’s the number of individuals donating $10 or more. To up the number of donors, Lily fans are calling friends and emailing everyone they know. Many are using one credit card to donate for several family members, each member registering his or her name and email address with all using the same credit card to donate $10 for each person.
It’s a nail-biter with 7 hours to go.
To vote, go to http://givemn.razoo.com/p/gtmd-top50-greatermn and click on the North American Bear Center, register, and vote. Registering is easy—it’s just your name, email, and a password. To use your credit card, it’s just your name and address and credit card info on a secure line.
Minnesota Public Radio mentioned that the North American Bear Center was in first place in the Greater Minnesota area and in line for the $20,000 prize if we stay ahead of the colleges coming up behind us.
It’s a close one. It’s gratifying to see you step up like this.
Oh, and if you want to donate another $10, the Wildlife Research Institute is just 26 votes behind the 10th place nonprofit. Tenth place pays an extra $1,000. To donate $10 or more to WRI, click on the link above, scroll down to Wildlife Research Institute and donate. But it’s most important to keep the Bear Center in the lead.
Thank you for all you are doing with this unusual opportunity.
—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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:28 pm
(There is a really cute picture on this one, but you can't view them any bigger than a thumbnail on FB now, I think you might be able to on the bear centre webpage so will do photos later if I can 
)
Update November 17, 2010 – 7:28 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 18 November 2010 at 02:11
We are all winners!
Lily and Hope - September 27, 2010
You pulled together and gave it your all! It was a nail-biter right to the end.
At 12:12 AM, we received a gracious message from Tracy Fossum, Director of St. Olaf giving, saying, “Congratulations! It was fun to take it all the way to the end. :) The best part about today is that everyone won, especially those we were fighting so hard for. I look forward to seeing updates about Lily and again, well done!”
At 1:25 AM, Sue Mansfield sent a message to the Lily fans who coordinated the matching funds and got the word out to donate, saying “There aren’t words enough to express our gratitude for the work that went into this project. Unbelievable job – all the way around. As a ‘Thank You!’ to all fans, I will do my best to pull together a video of Lily and Hope to post tomorrow. Please keep this ‘under your hat’ in case I have technical difficulties. Great teamwork!”
Sue succeeded in getting a short video clip from October 22 posted at http://www.bear.org/website/videos-a-more/videos-/den-cam-video-clips.html and hopefully a video from September 27 (picture) will be up soon.
Thank you for your generous donations and hard work finding new donors. It is so great to be a part of this wonderful group that cares, acts, and gives it their all!
But it was a close finish, and the results are still unofficial, so we don’t want to get too excited until GiveMN verifies the unique donors and makes the outcome official.
Whether we officially end up first or second, we are all winners. The money you generously donated, the matching money that dozens of you put up, and the untiring effort you made to spread the word and generate donations shows your dedication. What a team! What a force for bears! What a difference you made in reducing the Bear Center’s debt and adding to the WRI’s Research Fund.
We believe the final tally of donations, including matching funds was $44,872 to the Bear Center and $3,397 to the Wildlife Research Institute. Thank you so much. And that doesn’t include the $10,000 or $20,000 prize money. We’re seeing a light at the end of the debt tunnel and are focusing beyond.
Thank you for all you do. This was a big one.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
)Update November 17, 2010 – 7:28 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 18 November 2010 at 02:11
We are all winners!
Lily and Hope - September 27, 2010
You pulled together and gave it your all! It was a nail-biter right to the end.
At 12:12 AM, we received a gracious message from Tracy Fossum, Director of St. Olaf giving, saying, “Congratulations! It was fun to take it all the way to the end. :) The best part about today is that everyone won, especially those we were fighting so hard for. I look forward to seeing updates about Lily and again, well done!”
At 1:25 AM, Sue Mansfield sent a message to the Lily fans who coordinated the matching funds and got the word out to donate, saying “There aren’t words enough to express our gratitude for the work that went into this project. Unbelievable job – all the way around. As a ‘Thank You!’ to all fans, I will do my best to pull together a video of Lily and Hope to post tomorrow. Please keep this ‘under your hat’ in case I have technical difficulties. Great teamwork!”
Sue succeeded in getting a short video clip from October 22 posted at http://www.bear.org/website/videos-a-more/videos-/den-cam-video-clips.html and hopefully a video from September 27 (picture) will be up soon.
Thank you for your generous donations and hard work finding new donors. It is so great to be a part of this wonderful group that cares, acts, and gives it their all!
But it was a close finish, and the results are still unofficial, so we don’t want to get too excited until GiveMN verifies the unique donors and makes the outcome official.
Whether we officially end up first or second, we are all winners. The money you generously donated, the matching money that dozens of you put up, and the untiring effort you made to spread the word and generate donations shows your dedication. What a team! What a force for bears! What a difference you made in reducing the Bear Center’s debt and adding to the WRI’s Research Fund.
We believe the final tally of donations, including matching funds was $44,872 to the Bear Center and $3,397 to the Wildlife Research Institute. Thank you so much. And that doesn’t include the $10,000 or $20,000 prize money. We’re seeing a light at the end of the debt tunnel and are focusing beyond.
Thank you for all you do. This was a big one.
—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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:28 pm
November 18, 2010 – 12:46 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 18 November 2010 at 20:11
Thankful for all you do!
Lily drinking from lake - September 26, 2010
Thank you for your generosity and the huge effort you put into the November 16 ‘Give to the Max Day.’
It’s official. The Bear Center captured second place – and we’re ecstatic! And we heartily congratulate first place St. Olaf College! It was a close contest, and in the final tally, we were bumped down to second place because a few donations did not meet the criteria for inclusion on the leaderboard. The second place prize of $10,000 brings the total to an amazing $55,242 for the Bear Center. An additional $3,347 was donated to the Wildlife Research Institute. Thank you so much. Lily fans rocked again!
Your strong showing caught the interest of the biggest newspapers and radio stations in Minnesota. They are asking how the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota, (population 3,724) can compete with the likes of St. Olaf College and Concordia College. We give the simple answer: Lily fans.
The attention this second place showing has brought to the NABC will benefit us for years to come. Once again you left a mark that will continue to help with the debt, educational outreach, and research. Donations continue to come in even today. Thank you again for this significant help.
We captured the comments you made on GiveMN.org as you donated. Beautiful. They show the heart and soul of Lily fans, and we want to include them in the Lily the Bear exhibit.
Thank you again and again for your generosity and all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 18 November 2010 at 20:11
Thankful for all you do!
Lily drinking from lake - September 26, 2010
Thank you for your generosity and the huge effort you put into the November 16 ‘Give to the Max Day.’
It’s official. The Bear Center captured second place – and we’re ecstatic! And we heartily congratulate first place St. Olaf College! It was a close contest, and in the final tally, we were bumped down to second place because a few donations did not meet the criteria for inclusion on the leaderboard. The second place prize of $10,000 brings the total to an amazing $55,242 for the Bear Center. An additional $3,347 was donated to the Wildlife Research Institute. Thank you so much. Lily fans rocked again!
Your strong showing caught the interest of the biggest newspapers and radio stations in Minnesota. They are asking how the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota, (population 3,724) can compete with the likes of St. Olaf College and Concordia College. We give the simple answer: Lily fans.
The attention this second place showing has brought to the NABC will benefit us for years to come. Once again you left a mark that will continue to help with the debt, educational outreach, and research. Donations continue to come in even today. Thank you again for this significant help.
We captured the comments you made on GiveMN.org as you donated. Beautiful. They show the heart and soul of Lily fans, and we want to include them in the Lily the Bear exhibit.
Thank you again and again for your generosity and 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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:29 pm
Update November 19, 2010 – 7:39 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 20 November 2010 at 02:05
Chapter 1
mother bear slapping in den - April 1985
In this time of letting the bears settle in, there isn’t much bear news. We’re waiting for deer hunting season to end on November 21 so our traipsing around doesn’t disturb deer hunters. It’s a time of writing, reviewing lesson plans teachers have sent in for the Education Outreach Project, and communicating with the people creating the den cams. The best we can do for bear news on this snowy November day is to reminisce about the old days when Lynn was acquiring the knowledge that led to the trust-based research of today. Here’s a passage from today’s work on Chapter 1 (unedited).
Perhaps the most misunderstood behaviors of black bears are their blustery behaviors—startling lunges, swats to the ground, and explosive blowing. Understanding these behaviors was my biggest step toward being able to work closely with them. Here are some of the bears and events that help me learn.
In April 1985, as I approached a den, a cub made a soft sound. I peered in and saw the mother lift her head, narrow her muzzle, and lunge, slamming her feet at the entrance and blowing explosively. I jerked back even though I’d safely seen that behavior hundreds of times. She settled back to the far end of the den.
I didn’t know this bear. This was more than a year before I began walking with bears, and I was still learning their language and intentions.
But by that time, 18 years into my bear research, these lunges no longer scared me. All the bears had lunged only to their den entrances, never past, and no bear really tried to make contact.
I lay down at the entrance, ready to snap a picture if the mother mustered the courage to bluff again. As I waited, I wondered. What are the bear rules? What if I crawled in a couple feet? Would she lunge at me but stop the same distance away as she had when I was at the entrance? I felt she would not attack. I crawled in a couple feet. She lunged and slammed her feet down a couple feet away as I thought she would. I knew the picture I got was not well aimed, so I waited for her to do it again. When I didn’t leave, she did something I did not expect. She turned her back, hid her head in the back corner of the den, and left one of her cubs unprotected beside her, nearly within my reach, although out of sight in the bedding.
I didn’t understand her docile behavior. She seemed both scared and fierce when she made the lunges, but to see her hide her head showed me something new. I saw just how meek she was behind all the bravado. I was learning that black bear lunges and bluff charges are nothing more than ritualized expressions of their own apprehensions. By trying something new, I learned something new, and my attitude was changing.
We are still feeling deep gratitude for your efforts on November 16 during ‘Give to the Max Day’—and all that will come from that. 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 Saturday, 20 November 2010 at 02:05
Chapter 1
mother bear slapping in den - April 1985
In this time of letting the bears settle in, there isn’t much bear news. We’re waiting for deer hunting season to end on November 21 so our traipsing around doesn’t disturb deer hunters. It’s a time of writing, reviewing lesson plans teachers have sent in for the Education Outreach Project, and communicating with the people creating the den cams. The best we can do for bear news on this snowy November day is to reminisce about the old days when Lynn was acquiring the knowledge that led to the trust-based research of today. Here’s a passage from today’s work on Chapter 1 (unedited).
Perhaps the most misunderstood behaviors of black bears are their blustery behaviors—startling lunges, swats to the ground, and explosive blowing. Understanding these behaviors was my biggest step toward being able to work closely with them. Here are some of the bears and events that help me learn.
In April 1985, as I approached a den, a cub made a soft sound. I peered in and saw the mother lift her head, narrow her muzzle, and lunge, slamming her feet at the entrance and blowing explosively. I jerked back even though I’d safely seen that behavior hundreds of times. She settled back to the far end of the den.
I didn’t know this bear. This was more than a year before I began walking with bears, and I was still learning their language and intentions.
But by that time, 18 years into my bear research, these lunges no longer scared me. All the bears had lunged only to their den entrances, never past, and no bear really tried to make contact.
I lay down at the entrance, ready to snap a picture if the mother mustered the courage to bluff again. As I waited, I wondered. What are the bear rules? What if I crawled in a couple feet? Would she lunge at me but stop the same distance away as she had when I was at the entrance? I felt she would not attack. I crawled in a couple feet. She lunged and slammed her feet down a couple feet away as I thought she would. I knew the picture I got was not well aimed, so I waited for her to do it again. When I didn’t leave, she did something I did not expect. She turned her back, hid her head in the back corner of the den, and left one of her cubs unprotected beside her, nearly within my reach, although out of sight in the bedding.
I didn’t understand her docile behavior. She seemed both scared and fierce when she made the lunges, but to see her hide her head showed me something new. I saw just how meek she was behind all the bravado. I was learning that black bear lunges and bluff charges are nothing more than ritualized expressions of their own apprehensions. By trying something new, I learned something new, and my attitude was changing.
We are still feeling deep gratitude for your efforts on November 16 during ‘Give to the Max Day’—and all that will come from that. 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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:29 pm
Update November 20, 2010 – 6:59 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 21 November 2010 at 01:36
Elves and More Chapter 1
Bear Center elves
The Bear Center Elves have been busy filling orders! They surprised us with this picture today and we just had to share. They pose with some of the merchandise they will ship to you on Monday. Thank you! From left to right are: Managing Director and Bear Curator Donna Andrews (The Geode); Dr. Ella Ingram, a professor of Ecology on sabbatical for a year to work with Program Director Sharon Herrell; Jason Sawyer, the computer genius who will be doing much of the day to day maintenance of the den cams (Lily and Hope’s and Ted and Lucky’s); Sonja Stacey, our valuable office manager; John Leonard, cashier and maintenance supervisor; and Lora DeWeese, lead cashier at the front desk. All are part of what we call our “Miracle Team.”
The deer season ends tomorrow evening. That means it’s almost time to get out and see if any of the bears have changed dens.
With so little bear news, the only thing we can do is again include a couple paragraphs from today’s (unedited) progress on Chapter 1.
One of the experiences that helped me trust bears happened in early September 1985. It was during an early attempt to walk with bears. It was an exception to charging mothers stopping at the usual 20 feet, and it gave me my biggest bear scare.
I was tagging along with a moderately receptive mother and cubs. The family became accustomed enough to me that I found myself among the cubs while the mother foraged 35 yards away. Something spooked the cubs. They yelled and leaped for trees. The mother came running—at me. No bluster. She meant business. I tried to run backwards but immediately tripped. As I fell backward, I hit her in the head with my camera and kicked her in the chin. She never flinched. She stood over me with a narrowed muzzle and partly open mouth. I lay facing her with a pounding heart, probably smelling of fear, watching her eyes for her next move. She never touched me. After a few long seconds, she walked over and checked her cubs.
When I got up, I felt safe. If she hadn’t attacked me then, when would she ever? I trailed along snapping pictures 20-30 feet away for a couple hours until the family came to a big red pine and took a nap.
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, 21 November 2010 at 01:36
Elves and More Chapter 1
Bear Center elves
The Bear Center Elves have been busy filling orders! They surprised us with this picture today and we just had to share. They pose with some of the merchandise they will ship to you on Monday. Thank you! From left to right are: Managing Director and Bear Curator Donna Andrews (The Geode); Dr. Ella Ingram, a professor of Ecology on sabbatical for a year to work with Program Director Sharon Herrell; Jason Sawyer, the computer genius who will be doing much of the day to day maintenance of the den cams (Lily and Hope’s and Ted and Lucky’s); Sonja Stacey, our valuable office manager; John Leonard, cashier and maintenance supervisor; and Lora DeWeese, lead cashier at the front desk. All are part of what we call our “Miracle Team.”
The deer season ends tomorrow evening. That means it’s almost time to get out and see if any of the bears have changed dens.
With so little bear news, the only thing we can do is again include a couple paragraphs from today’s (unedited) progress on Chapter 1.
One of the experiences that helped me trust bears happened in early September 1985. It was during an early attempt to walk with bears. It was an exception to charging mothers stopping at the usual 20 feet, and it gave me my biggest bear scare.
I was tagging along with a moderately receptive mother and cubs. The family became accustomed enough to me that I found myself among the cubs while the mother foraged 35 yards away. Something spooked the cubs. They yelled and leaped for trees. The mother came running—at me. No bluster. She meant business. I tried to run backwards but immediately tripped. As I fell backward, I hit her in the head with my camera and kicked her in the chin. She never flinched. She stood over me with a narrowed muzzle and partly open mouth. I lay facing her with a pounding heart, probably smelling of fear, watching her eyes for her next move. She never touched me. After a few long seconds, she walked over and checked her cubs.
When I got up, I felt safe. If she hadn’t attacked me then, when would she ever? I trailed along snapping pictures 20-30 feet away for a couple hours until the family came to a big red pine and took a nap.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:30 pm
Update November 21, 2010 – 3:19 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 21 November 2010 at 21:52
It’s winter!
Gray Jay puffed up to stay warm.
No matter what the calendar says, winter has come to Ely, Minnesota—and it’s covering Lily’s home territory. Big flakes are falling from the calm, grey overcast sky. Deer have replaced bears at the feeders in the area, and chickadees are hungry. One after another come to pluck sunflower seeds from anyone’s hands—22 chickadees and 1 red-breasted nuthatch in 5 minutes. Nearby, a doe licks the falling snow from the head and back of her fawn. Tranquil. Quiet—except for the sweet sounds of chickadees, the calls of ravens, and the occasional distant gunshot on this last day of deer season. We hope the snow doesn’t make it hard to make a last check on bear dens in the next couple weeks.
We love this area with its diverse wildlife. What makes it so diverse is that the forest here is a combination of the conifer forests to the north and the deciduous forests to the south, and the wildlife of those forests overlaps here. Our Superior National Forest has more breeding bird species (155) than any other national forest. Wildlife seen on the WRI’s 60 acres includes 132 birds and 29 mammals, including black bears, wolves, coyotes, moose, white-tailed deer, fisher, and pine marten. Forty-four other birds that are fairly common nearby haven’t been spotted on the property yet. We’re always vigilant for new species.
No fresh bear news again, of course, so here’s another passage from Chapter 1 about Lynn becoming comfortable around bears decades ago.
I accidentally had another such experience on a windy March 14th, 1986, when I homed in on radio signals from the den of a 21-year-old mother and cubs. Her “den” turned out to be a bed of leaves on the ground surface. She was curled up in a ball with her head tucked under her chest, breathing on her 2-month-old cubs. In the snow, all that was visible was her furry back. To record this unusual scene, I attached a super wide angle 20mm lens to my camera. Through the viewfinder, she looked far away, and I edged closer than I meant to. Three feet away, I clicked, and the viewfinder went black. I hadn’t heard her lunge in the wind. I wondered what was wrong with the camera. Then I noticed her face inches from mine and jerked back.
I’d learned something. I had wondered what would happen if I didn’t jerk away when bears lunged that close. For this bear, the answer was “Nothing.” She probably wondered why her bluff hadn’t worked. This wasn’t a bear that trusted me, although I had visited her dens 12 times over the years. Nevertheless, she settled back on her cubs and stayed put as I attached a hypodermic syringe to a stick and gently tranquilized her. The picture turned out to be a blurry head with flattened ears coming at the camera.
While we are working here on words and videos, you are doing big things. We saw how Olatz’s beautiful book ‘Lily & Hope – the light of the Northwoods’ was bought for $2,500—plus matching money from angels. Thank you so much for this help and so much more. It’s hard to believe how much closer you have brought us to being debt free and fulfilling our mission this past year.
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, 21 November 2010 at 21:52
It’s winter!
Gray Jay puffed up to stay warm.
No matter what the calendar says, winter has come to Ely, Minnesota—and it’s covering Lily’s home territory. Big flakes are falling from the calm, grey overcast sky. Deer have replaced bears at the feeders in the area, and chickadees are hungry. One after another come to pluck sunflower seeds from anyone’s hands—22 chickadees and 1 red-breasted nuthatch in 5 minutes. Nearby, a doe licks the falling snow from the head and back of her fawn. Tranquil. Quiet—except for the sweet sounds of chickadees, the calls of ravens, and the occasional distant gunshot on this last day of deer season. We hope the snow doesn’t make it hard to make a last check on bear dens in the next couple weeks.
We love this area with its diverse wildlife. What makes it so diverse is that the forest here is a combination of the conifer forests to the north and the deciduous forests to the south, and the wildlife of those forests overlaps here. Our Superior National Forest has more breeding bird species (155) than any other national forest. Wildlife seen on the WRI’s 60 acres includes 132 birds and 29 mammals, including black bears, wolves, coyotes, moose, white-tailed deer, fisher, and pine marten. Forty-four other birds that are fairly common nearby haven’t been spotted on the property yet. We’re always vigilant for new species.
No fresh bear news again, of course, so here’s another passage from Chapter 1 about Lynn becoming comfortable around bears decades ago.
I accidentally had another such experience on a windy March 14th, 1986, when I homed in on radio signals from the den of a 21-year-old mother and cubs. Her “den” turned out to be a bed of leaves on the ground surface. She was curled up in a ball with her head tucked under her chest, breathing on her 2-month-old cubs. In the snow, all that was visible was her furry back. To record this unusual scene, I attached a super wide angle 20mm lens to my camera. Through the viewfinder, she looked far away, and I edged closer than I meant to. Three feet away, I clicked, and the viewfinder went black. I hadn’t heard her lunge in the wind. I wondered what was wrong with the camera. Then I noticed her face inches from mine and jerked back.
I’d learned something. I had wondered what would happen if I didn’t jerk away when bears lunged that close. For this bear, the answer was “Nothing.” She probably wondered why her bluff hadn’t worked. This wasn’t a bear that trusted me, although I had visited her dens 12 times over the years. Nevertheless, she settled back on her cubs and stayed put as I attached a hypodermic syringe to a stick and gently tranquilized her. The picture turned out to be a blurry head with flattened ears coming at the camera.
While we are working here on words and videos, you are doing big things. We saw how Olatz’s beautiful book ‘Lily & Hope – the light of the Northwoods’ was bought for $2,500—plus matching money from angels. Thank you so much for this help and so much more. It’s hard to believe how much closer you have brought us to being debt free and fulfilling our mission this past year.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:30 pm
Update November 22, 2010 – 6:21PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 23 November 2010 at 02:12
Den cam progress & more Chapter 1
The engineers are making decisions and producer Doug Hajicek is targeting December 15 as the installation date for Lily and Hope’s den cam(s). Jason Sawyer is moving toward installation of Ted and Lucky’s den cam.
Meanwhile, snow keeps falling. It’s so overcast lately it looks like dusk all day.
Mikayla and her family finally got back to us while on vacation. Mikayla is the Colorado third-grader who told her classmates she wanted donations to the Bear Center instead of birthday presents. That prompted some of you to ask if you could send her a present, which is why we contacted Mikayla’s family. Here’s an excerpt from her father’s email.
“I mentioned the present to Mikayla and she suggested they donate to the bear center instead. You should get the envelope with the donations from Mikayla and her third grade classmates next week. Mikayla wanted to write at little note to you, Lynn, before we sent the donations. I think the fortuitous timing of having just watched your show, Lynn, and then meeting you a few days later made quite an impression on Mikayla. She has been passionate about bears for a few years now and imagines that she would like to study them as a wildlife biologist someday. Meeting a real life biologist made that dream seem just a little more possible. We have also been fortunate to have encountered several bears in the wild, including two grizzlies. They are indeed amazing animals to watch.”
We loved your story of putting 2-year-olds out in their snowsuits covered with thistle seeds so birds would land on them (comment on Nov 21 update). We must be kids at heart. We tried that ourselves a few years back and counted up to 17 pine siskins and goldfinches on a person at once. Bird-watching can be fun!
But there is no bear news, so it’s another story from Chapter 1:
old 812 charging
Just when I was thinking I knew the bluff routine to expect with mothers and cubs, I ran into Old 812 in the summer of 1987. This 13-year-old didn’t show the usual bluster we knew to be harmless. When my field assistant Greg Wilker or I approached her, she’d put her ears back, come fast and low, and finally turn away with clacking jaws at little more than arms length. At first we stood our ground, but after realizing this was just another type of bluff, we wondered what would happen if we did other things.
We wondered how she would respond to aggressive behavior. Would she defend her cubs? When either of us ran toward Old 812 and her cubs, she ran to the nearest tree and started to climb.
Next, we wondered what would happen if we responded to a charge by running away. We knew how close she would come when we stood our ground. Would she dare come closer if we ran? I made a plan. Greg would do the running. Actually, I was sure there was no danger. As a U. S. Forest Service Research Scientist, I didn’t dare put anyone at serious risk for fear of the paperwork. Shortly, we saw 812 and her cubs in the bushes at the edge of a forest opening. I lay down with my camera. Greg provoked a charge, and ran past me within 3 feet with 812 at his heels so I could snap pictures of a charging bear from ground level. Then something happened. Greg glanced back at 812 and fell flat. What did 812 do? She did fancy athletics to avoid touching Greg as she braked and trotted back to her cubs.
812’s life ended that fall when a hunter shot her uneventfully from his tree stand. 812 left behind many stories, but in her 13 years of life she never touched anyone. The most aggressive bear we ever met turned out to be all bluff. In my 44 years of research (and counting), she was the only wild bear I met that had a habit of charging.
You can see videos of Old 812 in action at http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/communication/63-how-dangerous-are-bluff-charges.html.
Thank you for all you are doing day after day.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 23 November 2010 at 02:12
Den cam progress & more Chapter 1
The engineers are making decisions and producer Doug Hajicek is targeting December 15 as the installation date for Lily and Hope’s den cam(s). Jason Sawyer is moving toward installation of Ted and Lucky’s den cam.
Meanwhile, snow keeps falling. It’s so overcast lately it looks like dusk all day.
Mikayla and her family finally got back to us while on vacation. Mikayla is the Colorado third-grader who told her classmates she wanted donations to the Bear Center instead of birthday presents. That prompted some of you to ask if you could send her a present, which is why we contacted Mikayla’s family. Here’s an excerpt from her father’s email.
“I mentioned the present to Mikayla and she suggested they donate to the bear center instead. You should get the envelope with the donations from Mikayla and her third grade classmates next week. Mikayla wanted to write at little note to you, Lynn, before we sent the donations. I think the fortuitous timing of having just watched your show, Lynn, and then meeting you a few days later made quite an impression on Mikayla. She has been passionate about bears for a few years now and imagines that she would like to study them as a wildlife biologist someday. Meeting a real life biologist made that dream seem just a little more possible. We have also been fortunate to have encountered several bears in the wild, including two grizzlies. They are indeed amazing animals to watch.”
We loved your story of putting 2-year-olds out in their snowsuits covered with thistle seeds so birds would land on them (comment on Nov 21 update). We must be kids at heart. We tried that ourselves a few years back and counted up to 17 pine siskins and goldfinches on a person at once. Bird-watching can be fun!
But there is no bear news, so it’s another story from Chapter 1:
old 812 charging
Just when I was thinking I knew the bluff routine to expect with mothers and cubs, I ran into Old 812 in the summer of 1987. This 13-year-old didn’t show the usual bluster we knew to be harmless. When my field assistant Greg Wilker or I approached her, she’d put her ears back, come fast and low, and finally turn away with clacking jaws at little more than arms length. At first we stood our ground, but after realizing this was just another type of bluff, we wondered what would happen if we did other things.
We wondered how she would respond to aggressive behavior. Would she defend her cubs? When either of us ran toward Old 812 and her cubs, she ran to the nearest tree and started to climb.
Next, we wondered what would happen if we responded to a charge by running away. We knew how close she would come when we stood our ground. Would she dare come closer if we ran? I made a plan. Greg would do the running. Actually, I was sure there was no danger. As a U. S. Forest Service Research Scientist, I didn’t dare put anyone at serious risk for fear of the paperwork. Shortly, we saw 812 and her cubs in the bushes at the edge of a forest opening. I lay down with my camera. Greg provoked a charge, and ran past me within 3 feet with 812 at his heels so I could snap pictures of a charging bear from ground level. Then something happened. Greg glanced back at 812 and fell flat. What did 812 do? She did fancy athletics to avoid touching Greg as she braked and trotted back to her cubs.
812’s life ended that fall when a hunter shot her uneventfully from his tree stand. 812 left behind many stories, but in her 13 years of life she never touched anyone. The most aggressive bear we ever met turned out to be all bluff. In my 44 years of research (and counting), she was the only wild bear I met that had a habit of charging.
You can see videos of Old 812 in action at http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/communication/63-how-dangerous-are-bluff-charges.html.
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- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:31 pm
Update November 23, 2010 – 8:25 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Wednesday, 24 November 2010 at 12:55
No, it’s the 18th
Bear Center elves
December 15th turned out to have overwhelming conflicts, so the team moved the install date for the Lily and Hope cam(s) to December 18 with the 19th as a backup if needed. The reason we say cam(s) is we are considering a second camera outside Lily and Hope’s den to see what animals come by to check them out overwinter. We may see how passing predators respond to the cries of cubs, and what Lily and Hope do if they come out like Lily did last year as she approached delivery. Excitement mounts.
The picture is four more cheerful Bear Center elves. These are Cashier Kathy Kerns, Program Director Sharon Herrell, Cashier Micki Papesh, Office Assistant Missy Heitala, and (kneeling) Operations Assistant Judy McClure.
No bear news again, so it’s a short passage from Chapter 1—the chapter on bear language. We are still in the harmless bluster section of it. Here’s the story:
In 44 years of meeting dozens of adult males, two seemed to be unusually aggressive, at least until I understood them better. In 1985, Big John showed up 10 times at a U. S. Forest Service diversionary feeding site I maintained 25 feet from my office window. He was a puzzle. Before he would come into view, he would spend maybe a half hour back in the woods huffing—a sign of fear. But whenever he’d see me through the window, he’d rush at it and slam his paws against it—loud. Scary. But slamming the paws like that could just be harmless bluster, so I checked. I went outside and walked toward him in plain view. He retreated and huffed in fear. He was never a threat.
I last saw Big John on July 18, 1985. Earlier, I had caught him in a live trap (barrel trap) and ear-tagged him in case he rushed someone else’s window. If a landowner shot him, I wanted the tag and the story. But there was no further word on him until a hunter sent in his ear-tag. He had shot Big John uneventfully on September 6, 1986, 108 miles away.
This was a nice story on the Duluth Channel 6 last night: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Nature-Matters-November-Visitors-to-the-Bear-Center-109918854.html .
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 Wednesday, 24 November 2010 at 12:55
No, it’s the 18th
Bear Center elves
December 15th turned out to have overwhelming conflicts, so the team moved the install date for the Lily and Hope cam(s) to December 18 with the 19th as a backup if needed. The reason we say cam(s) is we are considering a second camera outside Lily and Hope’s den to see what animals come by to check them out overwinter. We may see how passing predators respond to the cries of cubs, and what Lily and Hope do if they come out like Lily did last year as she approached delivery. Excitement mounts.
The picture is four more cheerful Bear Center elves. These are Cashier Kathy Kerns, Program Director Sharon Herrell, Cashier Micki Papesh, Office Assistant Missy Heitala, and (kneeling) Operations Assistant Judy McClure.
No bear news again, so it’s a short passage from Chapter 1—the chapter on bear language. We are still in the harmless bluster section of it. Here’s the story:
In 44 years of meeting dozens of adult males, two seemed to be unusually aggressive, at least until I understood them better. In 1985, Big John showed up 10 times at a U. S. Forest Service diversionary feeding site I maintained 25 feet from my office window. He was a puzzle. Before he would come into view, he would spend maybe a half hour back in the woods huffing—a sign of fear. But whenever he’d see me through the window, he’d rush at it and slam his paws against it—loud. Scary. But slamming the paws like that could just be harmless bluster, so I checked. I went outside and walked toward him in plain view. He retreated and huffed in fear. He was never a threat.
I last saw Big John on July 18, 1985. Earlier, I had caught him in a live trap (barrel trap) and ear-tagged him in case he rushed someone else’s window. If a landowner shot him, I wanted the tag and the story. But there was no further word on him until a hunter sent in his ear-tag. He had shot Big John uneventfully on September 6, 1986, 108 miles away.
This was a nice story on the Duluth Channel 6 last night: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Nature-Matters-November-Visitors-to-the-Bear-Center-109918854.html .
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:31 pm
Update November 24, 2010 – 6:01 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 25 November 2010 at 00:58
Birthday and Chase
Jason's birthday party
We don’t know what was the best thing that happened today. Was it the wonderful 25th birthday party you gave for Jason on his first birthday away from home? Jason sends his most heartfelt thank you. The cake, ice cream, pizzas, and gathering brightened his day and set us all back on our diets. Thank you! The picture shows a major gathering of Bear Center elves. Managing Director Donna Andrews (the Geode) is missing because she’s taking the picture.
Okay, the other good thing that happened today can’t compete with the good food and fun, but we were very happy that the Chase money arrived today! Thank you again! You know how hard you worked for that. We know how much it will help. The picture tells the story. Thank you.
Of course there is no bear news other than that people will gather here this weekend for some preparation work for Lily and Hope’s den cam(s).
So, it’s more bear stories from the days of yore. We’re still in Chapter 1 in the section on harmless bluster.
Jaw-popping
For over two decades, I wrongly interpreted jaw-popping, a.k.a. blowing and chomping or blowing and clacking, as a threat. When I crowded bears and they blew and clacked their teeth, I thought they were demonstrating their weapons. When Old 812 charged close and clacked her teeth, I thought she was reminding me of her biting power as a final gesture before turning away.
But then, in 1990, as I sat on a hillside quietly watching a bear through binoculars, I saw something that changed my thinking. The bear was high in a tree. It walked out on a branch, almost fell, and blew and jaw-popped just like I’d seen hundreds of times. There was no one to threaten. If a bear jaw-pops in the forest and there is no one to hear it, did it make a threat? Could jaw-popping be just another expression of fear? Thinking of situations in which I’d seen jaw-popping, fear suddenly made the best sense. All the jaw-popping bears retreated. None attacked. When Old 812 came close and jaw-popped, she immediately retreated. Little 4-pound cubs that jaw-popped when I came near were more likely afraid than considering attack.
Jaw-popping turned out to be just another form of harmless bluster.
When working closely with bears, I take jaw-popping as a sign a bear needs more time to develop trust and more space for the moment.
Deadly misunderstandings
Most people, including wildlife officials, have no first-hand opportunity to learn the meanings of harmless bluster. Nervous bears can look ferocious, and officers kill them in the name of public safety. Education is needed. As I’ve watched mother bears make blustery charges to the typical 20 feet, I’ve wondered how many people have shot mothers for doing that. Twenty feet can look pretty close when a person fears the worst.
I know bears in other situations have attacked people, and we’ll examine that shortly, but in my 44 years of working closely with black bears, I’ve never had any bear come after me and hurt me. When I see ferocious-looking bluster, I feel safe.
Thank you for all you have done to make today possible and all you do day after day.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 25 November 2010 at 00:58
Birthday and Chase
Jason's birthday party
We don’t know what was the best thing that happened today. Was it the wonderful 25th birthday party you gave for Jason on his first birthday away from home? Jason sends his most heartfelt thank you. The cake, ice cream, pizzas, and gathering brightened his day and set us all back on our diets. Thank you! The picture shows a major gathering of Bear Center elves. Managing Director Donna Andrews (the Geode) is missing because she’s taking the picture.
Okay, the other good thing that happened today can’t compete with the good food and fun, but we were very happy that the Chase money arrived today! Thank you again! You know how hard you worked for that. We know how much it will help. The picture tells the story. Thank you.
Of course there is no bear news other than that people will gather here this weekend for some preparation work for Lily and Hope’s den cam(s).
So, it’s more bear stories from the days of yore. We’re still in Chapter 1 in the section on harmless bluster.
Jaw-popping
For over two decades, I wrongly interpreted jaw-popping, a.k.a. blowing and chomping or blowing and clacking, as a threat. When I crowded bears and they blew and clacked their teeth, I thought they were demonstrating their weapons. When Old 812 charged close and clacked her teeth, I thought she was reminding me of her biting power as a final gesture before turning away.
But then, in 1990, as I sat on a hillside quietly watching a bear through binoculars, I saw something that changed my thinking. The bear was high in a tree. It walked out on a branch, almost fell, and blew and jaw-popped just like I’d seen hundreds of times. There was no one to threaten. If a bear jaw-pops in the forest and there is no one to hear it, did it make a threat? Could jaw-popping be just another expression of fear? Thinking of situations in which I’d seen jaw-popping, fear suddenly made the best sense. All the jaw-popping bears retreated. None attacked. When Old 812 came close and jaw-popped, she immediately retreated. Little 4-pound cubs that jaw-popped when I came near were more likely afraid than considering attack.
Jaw-popping turned out to be just another form of harmless bluster.
When working closely with bears, I take jaw-popping as a sign a bear needs more time to develop trust and more space for the moment.
Deadly misunderstandings
Most people, including wildlife officials, have no first-hand opportunity to learn the meanings of harmless bluster. Nervous bears can look ferocious, and officers kill them in the name of public safety. Education is needed. As I’ve watched mother bears make blustery charges to the typical 20 feet, I’ve wondered how many people have shot mothers for doing that. Twenty feet can look pretty close when a person fears the worst.
I know bears in other situations have attacked people, and we’ll examine that shortly, but in my 44 years of working closely with black bears, I’ve never had any bear come after me and hurt me. When I see ferocious-looking bluster, I feel safe.
Thank you for all you have done to make today possible and all you do day after day.
—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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:32 pm
Update November 25, 2010 - 8:00 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Friday, 26 November 2010 at 02:14
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today was/is a family day and all we are doing is eating. We are sorry to say we didn’t write an update except to say how great it looked to post the $100,000 you worked so hard to get from Chase to reduce the debt. When we get the money from Give MN that you gave, the debt will come down another 50,000. We can’t thank you enough for making this huge difference for the future of the North American Bear Center and all it will do for all bears.
Thank you for all you do and we hope you are having a blessed Thanksgiving.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
How wonderful to see how much their debt has decreased
by Lily the Black Bear on Friday, 26 November 2010 at 02:14
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today was/is a family day and all we are doing is eating. We are sorry to say we didn’t write an update except to say how great it looked to post the $100,000 you worked so hard to get from Chase to reduce the debt. When we get the money from Give MN that you gave, the debt will come down another 50,000. We can’t thank you enough for making this huge difference for the future of the North American Bear Center and all it will do for all bears.
Thank you for all you do and we hope you are having a blessed Thanksgiving.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
How wonderful to see how much their debt has decreased
Anne-Marie1981- Posts : 1089
Join date : 2010-05-17
Age : 43
Location : Northamptonshire
Re: Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub
Anne-Marie1981 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:35 pm
Sad story in this update:
Update November 26, 2010 – 8:42 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 27 November 2010 at 03:17
The Day After
The day after Thanksgiving. Back at work. Trying not to eat too many leftovers….
The highlights on this snowy day were delivery of the fish house to house the den cam equipment out in the woods, word from Bill Powers about technology advances PixController will be using for Lily and Hope’s Den Cams, and the arrival of Engineer Jim Stroner to test cell phone signals in the den area tomorrow.
At the Bear Center, Honey was busy rearranging leaves, moss, and pine needles in her den, just like we will likely see Lily and Hope doing from time to time.
Leroy Lewis with Bozo
We saw the newspaper articles about Bozo the 17-year-old bear being shot in Pennsylvania. The point that stands out to us is that this thoroughly habituated and food-conditioned bear (using the jargon words of professionals) became one of Pennsylvania’s older bears. Yet, when it was killed at a more advanced age than most bears are killed in Pennsylvania, wildlife officials blamed the killing on Leroy Lewis, who is pictured with Bozo a couple years ago.
One article began, “Leroy Lewis stood in the doorway of his tiny mobile home in Bushkill on Monday evening and wept as a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer told him his beloved bear, Bozo, had been shot by a hunter. Seventeen years of memories filled Lewis' mind as he digested the news that Bozo was dead.”
Lewis began feeding Bozo at his rural home when the bear was very young. The big bear became well known and welcomed in the area. Residents told of feeding the bear out the back door of a restaurant and at a nearby resort.
The big bear was also known to David Price and his five hunting companions who had hunted the bear for years. Hunting in the woodlots of Pennsylvania is typically done with bear drives. That means a line of people flush bears toward people waiting at the far edge. This year, members of the Price hunting party spotted the bear, made phone calls to gather the group of six, and shot Bozo six times as he emerged from a woodlot. Bozo reportedly weighed 879 pounds and was the heaviest bear ever killed in Pennsylvania.
The killing brought a public uproar from locals who knew the gentle giant.
We wondered why one of Pennsylvania’s oldest bears became vulnerable this fall after avoiding hunters for so many years. This fall, a wildlife official gave Lewis a written warning to stop feeding Bozo, and he did. Did Price’s hunting group just get lucky? Or did Bozo change his travel patterns this fall because Lewis was forced to stop feeding Bozo in the weeks before the bear hunt?
After the killing, wildlife officials ignored the fact that Bozo was one of Pennsylvania’s oldest bears when they blamed Lewis for contributing to the death by feeding him. One wildlife official said, “That’s what happens when people feed bears, they get shot.”
We say, given Bozo’s 17 years, a more objective statement would be, “Most bears in hunted populations end up shot at ages far younger than Bozo.”
When it comes to feeding bears, whether people believe it is right or wrong, there is a need for scientific objectivity if people are ever to truly learn the pros and cons. Honest research is needed to replace opinions with facts.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Update November 26, 2010 – 8:42 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 27 November 2010 at 03:17
The Day After
The day after Thanksgiving. Back at work. Trying not to eat too many leftovers….
The highlights on this snowy day were delivery of the fish house to house the den cam equipment out in the woods, word from Bill Powers about technology advances PixController will be using for Lily and Hope’s Den Cams, and the arrival of Engineer Jim Stroner to test cell phone signals in the den area tomorrow.
At the Bear Center, Honey was busy rearranging leaves, moss, and pine needles in her den, just like we will likely see Lily and Hope doing from time to time.
Leroy Lewis with Bozo
We saw the newspaper articles about Bozo the 17-year-old bear being shot in Pennsylvania. The point that stands out to us is that this thoroughly habituated and food-conditioned bear (using the jargon words of professionals) became one of Pennsylvania’s older bears. Yet, when it was killed at a more advanced age than most bears are killed in Pennsylvania, wildlife officials blamed the killing on Leroy Lewis, who is pictured with Bozo a couple years ago.
One article began, “Leroy Lewis stood in the doorway of his tiny mobile home in Bushkill on Monday evening and wept as a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer told him his beloved bear, Bozo, had been shot by a hunter. Seventeen years of memories filled Lewis' mind as he digested the news that Bozo was dead.”
Lewis began feeding Bozo at his rural home when the bear was very young. The big bear became well known and welcomed in the area. Residents told of feeding the bear out the back door of a restaurant and at a nearby resort.
The big bear was also known to David Price and his five hunting companions who had hunted the bear for years. Hunting in the woodlots of Pennsylvania is typically done with bear drives. That means a line of people flush bears toward people waiting at the far edge. This year, members of the Price hunting party spotted the bear, made phone calls to gather the group of six, and shot Bozo six times as he emerged from a woodlot. Bozo reportedly weighed 879 pounds and was the heaviest bear ever killed in Pennsylvania.
The killing brought a public uproar from locals who knew the gentle giant.
We wondered why one of Pennsylvania’s oldest bears became vulnerable this fall after avoiding hunters for so many years. This fall, a wildlife official gave Lewis a written warning to stop feeding Bozo, and he did. Did Price’s hunting group just get lucky? Or did Bozo change his travel patterns this fall because Lewis was forced to stop feeding Bozo in the weeks before the bear hunt?
After the killing, wildlife officials ignored the fact that Bozo was one of Pennsylvania’s oldest bears when they blamed Lewis for contributing to the death by feeding him. One wildlife official said, “That’s what happens when people feed bears, they get shot.”
We say, given Bozo’s 17 years, a more objective statement would be, “Most bears in hunted populations end up shot at ages far younger than Bozo.”
When it comes to feeding bears, whether people believe it is right or wrong, there is a need for scientific objectivity if people are ever to truly learn the pros and cons. Honest research is needed to replace opinions with facts.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:35 pm
Update November 27, 2010 – 8:05 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 28 November 2010 at 04:14
More Den Cam Prep
Jim Stroner, Sue Mansfield, Lynn Rogers, Jason Sawyer discuss the fish house which will house den cam equipment
More den cam preparation today. More discussion of details with Bill Powers of PixController in Pennsylvania and Jim Stroner of Digi International’s Minneapolis Branch. Other people helping to form decisions include Bill Rice of Ritron Corporation, Graham Wallington and Peter Braat of WildEarth.TV and Producer Doug Hajicek of White Wolf Entertainment. Jim Stroner and Jason Sawyer were doing on the ground construction all day. Scott Edgett, the Service Manager for Tousley Ford in St Paul, took on the task of getting the snowmobile running after sitting idle for months. Local resident Charlie Meyer advised on trail conditions, donated material, and stood ready to help in any way.
Amazing!
Meanwhile, at the Bear Center, the door with the beautiful wood-burning by Debby Bidwell-Boggs arrived after a 700-mile relay by many drivers from Central Michigan to Ely, MN. Lily fans Linda & Hank Ziobro, and Jim & Jackie Runions came from afar to help our John Leonard put the door on the office where it will be seen by every visitor. Lynn stopped by the Bear Center on his way home to see the door and called to say "It's a masterpiece! I've never seen anything like it."
Thank you to all, and apologies to people not mentioned, which is why we usually don’t mention anyone. All are appreciated greatly!
Also, our apologies to the admins for our posting on a controversial subject last night without prior warning. But the discussions that resulted showed that feeding is a topic that needs more real information.
Each person will have a different opinion on feeding any kind of wildlife, especially bears. Some people say “Let the wild be wild” and are against any interaction that could reduce fear of humans. Others enjoy being close to their wild neighbors and learning all they can about them. Still others enjoy hunting wildlife and eating meat that is free of additives.
But many of the reasons given for not feeding bears are misconceptions that are widely held by wildlife officials and the public. It’s not a question about whether it is right or wrong to feed bears. It’s about why people believe what they do.
Press coverage of Bozo included “Bears could become more aggressive if their human-food supply is cut off, some say. Also, a bear that's accustomed to being fed by people might forget how to forage properly and could die if its human food source dries up.” Common statements about feeding bears are that the bear get addicted to human food, become diseased, become more aggressive, associate people with food, waylay people for food, walk up to hunters, could kill children, become dependent, eventually view people as food, and make predatory attacks. Of course, there is the saying, “A fed bear is a dead bear.” We don’t know how many times wildlife officials have said habituated and food-conditioned bears become nuisances and jeopardize public safety.
How many of the above statements are backed by science and how many are urban legends? How much of the science is flawed by confusing coincidence with cause and effect?
A fact is that the bear-human interface is one of the most important areas of bear management and one of the least studied areas of bear biology. A big reason it is not studied is that the misconceptions are so ingrained that most people don’t think it is worth funding research on something that everyone already “knows.”
As time permits we may discuss some of the above statements in the updates.
A word about Pennsylvania and bears. For years, Lynn’s friend Dr. Gary Alt was the bear biologist there. Under Gary’s guidance, bear numbers grew and Gary was a champion of education about bears. He developed methods for successfully introducing bears to more and more parts of Pennsylvania, educated the people to accept bears, and gave a huge jump start to what has become a healthy bear population. The love that many people had for Bozo is in part a testament to Gary’s educational efforts. In the years before Gary retired, he took on broad ecosystem issues and attempted to revise deer management. After Gary retired, this very charismatic man continued his passion to educate. He is still engaged in ecosystem issues and enjoys working as a guide on bear-watching tours.
But is there more to be learned and shared about bear behavior? Even in Pennsylvania? That’s what we’re all about.
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, 28 November 2010 at 04:14
More Den Cam Prep
Jim Stroner, Sue Mansfield, Lynn Rogers, Jason Sawyer discuss the fish house which will house den cam equipment
More den cam preparation today. More discussion of details with Bill Powers of PixController in Pennsylvania and Jim Stroner of Digi International’s Minneapolis Branch. Other people helping to form decisions include Bill Rice of Ritron Corporation, Graham Wallington and Peter Braat of WildEarth.TV and Producer Doug Hajicek of White Wolf Entertainment. Jim Stroner and Jason Sawyer were doing on the ground construction all day. Scott Edgett, the Service Manager for Tousley Ford in St Paul, took on the task of getting the snowmobile running after sitting idle for months. Local resident Charlie Meyer advised on trail conditions, donated material, and stood ready to help in any way.
Amazing!
Meanwhile, at the Bear Center, the door with the beautiful wood-burning by Debby Bidwell-Boggs arrived after a 700-mile relay by many drivers from Central Michigan to Ely, MN. Lily fans Linda & Hank Ziobro, and Jim & Jackie Runions came from afar to help our John Leonard put the door on the office where it will be seen by every visitor. Lynn stopped by the Bear Center on his way home to see the door and called to say "It's a masterpiece! I've never seen anything like it."
Thank you to all, and apologies to people not mentioned, which is why we usually don’t mention anyone. All are appreciated greatly!
Also, our apologies to the admins for our posting on a controversial subject last night without prior warning. But the discussions that resulted showed that feeding is a topic that needs more real information.
Each person will have a different opinion on feeding any kind of wildlife, especially bears. Some people say “Let the wild be wild” and are against any interaction that could reduce fear of humans. Others enjoy being close to their wild neighbors and learning all they can about them. Still others enjoy hunting wildlife and eating meat that is free of additives.
But many of the reasons given for not feeding bears are misconceptions that are widely held by wildlife officials and the public. It’s not a question about whether it is right or wrong to feed bears. It’s about why people believe what they do.
Press coverage of Bozo included “Bears could become more aggressive if their human-food supply is cut off, some say. Also, a bear that's accustomed to being fed by people might forget how to forage properly and could die if its human food source dries up.” Common statements about feeding bears are that the bear get addicted to human food, become diseased, become more aggressive, associate people with food, waylay people for food, walk up to hunters, could kill children, become dependent, eventually view people as food, and make predatory attacks. Of course, there is the saying, “A fed bear is a dead bear.” We don’t know how many times wildlife officials have said habituated and food-conditioned bears become nuisances and jeopardize public safety.
How many of the above statements are backed by science and how many are urban legends? How much of the science is flawed by confusing coincidence with cause and effect?
A fact is that the bear-human interface is one of the most important areas of bear management and one of the least studied areas of bear biology. A big reason it is not studied is that the misconceptions are so ingrained that most people don’t think it is worth funding research on something that everyone already “knows.”
As time permits we may discuss some of the above statements in the updates.
A word about Pennsylvania and bears. For years, Lynn’s friend Dr. Gary Alt was the bear biologist there. Under Gary’s guidance, bear numbers grew and Gary was a champion of education about bears. He developed methods for successfully introducing bears to more and more parts of Pennsylvania, educated the people to accept bears, and gave a huge jump start to what has become a healthy bear population. The love that many people had for Bozo is in part a testament to Gary’s educational efforts. In the years before Gary retired, he took on broad ecosystem issues and attempted to revise deer management. After Gary retired, this very charismatic man continued his passion to educate. He is still engaged in ecosystem issues and enjoys working as a guide on bear-watching tours.
But is there more to be learned and shared about bear behavior? Even in Pennsylvania? That’s what we’re all about.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:36 pm
Update November 28, 2010 – 7:49 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 29 November 2010 at 03:17
Another step toward the den cam
Lynn Rogers pulling disassembled shed to the site.
Today we put the equipment shed (fish house) on location 70-100 yards from Lily and Hope’s den. Good weather helped. The 15 inches of snow on the ground from recent storms didn’t. Five of us put in a good day. The pictures tell the story. We used 2 trucks, a snowmobile, 2 trailers and 5 people to begin getting equipment on site. We snowmobiled the disassembled shed to the opening near the den, set it up, brought in a fuel tank, and tested for cell phone signal strength.
Jason, Charlie, Jim, and Sue assembling shed.
The pictures show the shed on the trailer behind the snowmobile, the shed going up, Sue carrying a cross for mounting a camera outside the den, and Jason Sawyer, Jim Stroner, and Sue Mansfield testing cell phone coverage at the end of the day. Charlie Meyer is in some of the pictures, and Lynn is the one in the orange jacket.
Sue carrying stand for the camera.
Jason, Jim, and Sue testing cell signal.
We worried how the bears might react to the noise, but we think everything is okay. Lily’s signal showed activity before we snowmobiled in. Maybe she was rearranging bedding in the den. The signal sounded like everything was calm when we left after dark.
Meanwhile, more of your goodies arrived at the Bear Center yesterday, we learned, and they got there in time for the people working on the new door to join in. Thank you.
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 Monday, 29 November 2010 at 03:17
Another step toward the den cam
Lynn Rogers pulling disassembled shed to the site.
Today we put the equipment shed (fish house) on location 70-100 yards from Lily and Hope’s den. Good weather helped. The 15 inches of snow on the ground from recent storms didn’t. Five of us put in a good day. The pictures tell the story. We used 2 trucks, a snowmobile, 2 trailers and 5 people to begin getting equipment on site. We snowmobiled the disassembled shed to the opening near the den, set it up, brought in a fuel tank, and tested for cell phone signal strength.
Jason, Charlie, Jim, and Sue assembling shed.
The pictures show the shed on the trailer behind the snowmobile, the shed going up, Sue carrying a cross for mounting a camera outside the den, and Jason Sawyer, Jim Stroner, and Sue Mansfield testing cell phone coverage at the end of the day. Charlie Meyer is in some of the pictures, and Lynn is the one in the orange jacket.
Sue carrying stand for the camera.
Jason, Jim, and Sue testing cell signal.
We worried how the bears might react to the noise, but we think everything is okay. Lily’s signal showed activity before we snowmobiled in. Maybe she was rearranging bedding in the den. The signal sounded like everything was calm when we left after dark.
Meanwhile, more of your goodies arrived at the Bear Center yesterday, we learned, and they got there in time for the people working on the new door to join in. Thank you.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:37 pm
Update November 29, 2010 – 9:07 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Tuesday, 30 November 2010 at 03:30
More Gearing Up
More gearing up for the Lily and Hope den cam. Charlie Meyer and Jason Sawyer snowmobiled the second fuel tank designed by Bill Rice to the broadcast site and filled one of the tanks with gas for the generator. Things are coming together. They hurried to get it in place before the latest snow storm hit. We may have another 9 inches by the end of the day tomorrow.
Meanwhile, David Hoole of Channel 6 in Duluth did a news report on the Lily Den Cam that you can see at http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/home/Lilys-Winter-Work-110978839.html .
On another subject, Lynn says he doesn’t have any creative ideas but knows a good idea when he hears one. That happened today. Sue Gottscho thought Pond Cam should have a wildlife Christmas tree as a gesture of holiday cheer. We loved the idea and immediately put up a small tree but want to replace it with a bigger one, closer to the camera. We want to cover it with lights and wildlife goodies to attract birds and squirrels. If you make and send little ornaments to the Bear Center (PO Box 161, Ely, MN 55731) we’ll see how many we can hang. Are we going overboard? Will anyone want watch busy birds on a Christmas tree when there are the Lily and Hope den cams and the Ted and Lucky den cam?
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 Tuesday, 30 November 2010 at 03:30
More Gearing Up
More gearing up for the Lily and Hope den cam. Charlie Meyer and Jason Sawyer snowmobiled the second fuel tank designed by Bill Rice to the broadcast site and filled one of the tanks with gas for the generator. Things are coming together. They hurried to get it in place before the latest snow storm hit. We may have another 9 inches by the end of the day tomorrow.
Meanwhile, David Hoole of Channel 6 in Duluth did a news report on the Lily Den Cam that you can see at http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/home/Lilys-Winter-Work-110978839.html .
On another subject, Lynn says he doesn’t have any creative ideas but knows a good idea when he hears one. That happened today. Sue Gottscho thought Pond Cam should have a wildlife Christmas tree as a gesture of holiday cheer. We loved the idea and immediately put up a small tree but want to replace it with a bigger one, closer to the camera. We want to cover it with lights and wildlife goodies to attract birds and squirrels. If you make and send little ornaments to the Bear Center (PO Box 161, Ely, MN 55731) we’ll see how many we can hang. Are we going overboard? Will anyone want watch busy birds on a Christmas tree when there are the Lily and Hope den cams and the Ted and Lucky den cam?
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:37 pm
Update November 30, 2010 – 8:08 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Wednesday, 01 December 2010 at 02:49
The lull before the den cam
Lynn Rogers feeding chickadees
Last night and today, the heavy snow hit that Jason and Charlie worked to successfully beat yesterday. Sue was snowed in at home, doing paperwork. Donna Rogers was at the Research Center filing. Lynn was at the Research Center tied to his computer with occasional breaks to stick his hand out the window to feed desperate chickadees in their suddenly very snowy world. So it’s a day with no bear news and no new writing in Lynn’s book to report. It was a day of must-do chores that are best done on snowy days. In retrospect, someone should have taken a picture of the snow. Sue dug out this picture of Lynn feeding birds last week (shhhh… Lynn doesn’t know she’s posting it).
The highlight of the day was the staff putting the second tree in front of the pond cam at the Bear Center. We’re down to that. Actually, the idea of a tree to brighten the scene brightened everyone there. The idea of creating a little wildlife mecca in front of the camera, decorated by Ely students and Lily fans, and lighted so the birds are more than silhouettes is kind of exciting. It will add interest for the pond cam viewers and the Bear Center visitors too!
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 Wednesday, 01 December 2010 at 02:49
The lull before the den cam
Lynn Rogers feeding chickadees
Last night and today, the heavy snow hit that Jason and Charlie worked to successfully beat yesterday. Sue was snowed in at home, doing paperwork. Donna Rogers was at the Research Center filing. Lynn was at the Research Center tied to his computer with occasional breaks to stick his hand out the window to feed desperate chickadees in their suddenly very snowy world. So it’s a day with no bear news and no new writing in Lynn’s book to report. It was a day of must-do chores that are best done on snowy days. In retrospect, someone should have taken a picture of the snow. Sue dug out this picture of Lynn feeding birds last week (shhhh… Lynn doesn’t know she’s posting it).
The highlight of the day was the staff putting the second tree in front of the pond cam at the Bear Center. We’re down to that. Actually, the idea of a tree to brighten the scene brightened everyone there. The idea of creating a little wildlife mecca in front of the camera, decorated by Ely students and Lily fans, and lighted so the birds are more than silhouettes is kind of exciting. It will add interest for the pond cam viewers and the Bear Center visitors too!
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:38 pm
Update December 1, 2010 – 7:04 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Thursday, 02 December 2010 at 05:10
Birds and Bears
Black-capped Chickadee
With bears settled into their dens, it was another day of den cam discussion, paperwork, and occasional interactions with the birds.
One thing that makes interacting with birds here interesting is the overlap of northern and southern bird species in this transition forest. The birds from the north are naturally tamer. Some people would say dumber. We think of that differently. Non-migratory birds that live in the north face different problems than birds with more southern ranges, and they have different ways of looking at the world. Getting through winters with marginal food and few predators makes birds of the north think about food. For birds of the south, the opposite is true, surviving year-round in the face of a much greater variety of winged and four-legged predators makes them naturally more wary. We see the comparison right here in northeastern Minnesota. Birds of the north (i.e., Canada) are more likely to assess the prospects of a meal, while birds of the south don’t think twice about food when they sense danger.
For example, the Gray Jay (a northern bird) will assess danger and food and take a chance. They readily learn to eat from a person’s hand. We’ve never had a Blue Jay (a southern bird) even think about it. They don’t come close.
Another example, Red-breasted Nuthatches readily come to a hand. White-breasted Nuthatches (more southern) don’t come close. Pine Siskins are far tamer than Goldfinches, which are in the same genus. Many other birds here offer similar comparisons.
We wonder how the Black-capped Chickadees that are so tame here compare with the tameness (or lack of tameness) of other species of chickadees, like the Carolina Chickadee of the south or the Mountain Chickadee of the west.
Back to bears, in a way. A bad thing happened. All the bear stories you sent in this past spring have been lost. We had a company temporarily help with some web mail reconfiguring, and the story file ended up deleted and irretrievable. We hope all is not lost. Can you sent your stories in again? Janice Edens has agreed to edit them and turn them into a book—Bear Tales. You turned in over a hundred great stories. To send them in again, send them to bearstories@bear.org. We dearly hope you still have them on your computers and can send them in again.
Changes are happening to both bear.org and bearstudy.org websites in preparation for the increase in traffic the den cams will undoubtedly generate. The first major change is the ‘Daily Update’ will now appear on the front page of bear.org. However, when you click to expand the update, you will be taken to bearstudy.org to read the full update. This may be a bit jarring right now, but soon both websites will undergo facelifts so the transition between the two sites will be easier.
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 Thursday, 02 December 2010 at 05:10
Birds and Bears
Black-capped Chickadee
With bears settled into their dens, it was another day of den cam discussion, paperwork, and occasional interactions with the birds.
One thing that makes interacting with birds here interesting is the overlap of northern and southern bird species in this transition forest. The birds from the north are naturally tamer. Some people would say dumber. We think of that differently. Non-migratory birds that live in the north face different problems than birds with more southern ranges, and they have different ways of looking at the world. Getting through winters with marginal food and few predators makes birds of the north think about food. For birds of the south, the opposite is true, surviving year-round in the face of a much greater variety of winged and four-legged predators makes them naturally more wary. We see the comparison right here in northeastern Minnesota. Birds of the north (i.e., Canada) are more likely to assess the prospects of a meal, while birds of the south don’t think twice about food when they sense danger.
For example, the Gray Jay (a northern bird) will assess danger and food and take a chance. They readily learn to eat from a person’s hand. We’ve never had a Blue Jay (a southern bird) even think about it. They don’t come close.
Another example, Red-breasted Nuthatches readily come to a hand. White-breasted Nuthatches (more southern) don’t come close. Pine Siskins are far tamer than Goldfinches, which are in the same genus. Many other birds here offer similar comparisons.
We wonder how the Black-capped Chickadees that are so tame here compare with the tameness (or lack of tameness) of other species of chickadees, like the Carolina Chickadee of the south or the Mountain Chickadee of the west.
Back to bears, in a way. A bad thing happened. All the bear stories you sent in this past spring have been lost. We had a company temporarily help with some web mail reconfiguring, and the story file ended up deleted and irretrievable. We hope all is not lost. Can you sent your stories in again? Janice Edens has agreed to edit them and turn them into a book—Bear Tales. You turned in over a hundred great stories. To send them in again, send them to bearstories@bear.org. We dearly hope you still have them on your computers and can send them in again.
Changes are happening to both bear.org and bearstudy.org websites in preparation for the increase in traffic the den cams will undoubtedly generate. The first major change is the ‘Daily Update’ will now appear on the front page of bear.org. However, when you click to expand the update, you will be taken to bearstudy.org to read the full update. This may be a bit jarring right now, but soon both websites will undergo facelifts so the transition between the two sites will be easier.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:39 pm
Update December 2, 2010 – 9:08 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Friday, 03 December 2010 at 03:38
Christmas Goodies
Lily & Hope - October 29, 2010
There are good things in the works for educational outreach, the den cam, protection for radio-collared bears, and more. Somehow, dealing with those issues, it got late and none of those things have yet come together sufficiently to post in an update. So there is essentially no update tonight. We are working very hard for legal protection of the radio-collared bears.
As Lynn was gratefully eating the sandwich meat and pizza and wonderful goodies you sent for the staff at the Bear Center, he had a thought related to a rumor he had heard that people were organizing to send Christmas goodies. He thought about people less fortunate and wondered how Christmas goodies could be used to help bears. One thing that would make people in this area realize once again the value of the radio-collared bears to this area would be donations from Lily fans to the Ely Food Shelf. He wondered what ideas our creative group (Lily fans) might come up with for other ways to help bears related to Christmas goodies. By tomorrow, we’ll have more information about the Ely Food Shelf where Donna Rogers volunteers. We always say, Lily fans have three goals: to learn about bears, to share the knowledge, and help the area where the radio-collared research bears live.
More tomorrow.
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 Friday, 03 December 2010 at 03:38
Christmas Goodies
Lily & Hope - October 29, 2010
There are good things in the works for educational outreach, the den cam, protection for radio-collared bears, and more. Somehow, dealing with those issues, it got late and none of those things have yet come together sufficiently to post in an update. So there is essentially no update tonight. We are working very hard for legal protection of the radio-collared bears.
As Lynn was gratefully eating the sandwich meat and pizza and wonderful goodies you sent for the staff at the Bear Center, he had a thought related to a rumor he had heard that people were organizing to send Christmas goodies. He thought about people less fortunate and wondered how Christmas goodies could be used to help bears. One thing that would make people in this area realize once again the value of the radio-collared bears to this area would be donations from Lily fans to the Ely Food Shelf. He wondered what ideas our creative group (Lily fans) might come up with for other ways to help bears related to Christmas goodies. By tomorrow, we’ll have more information about the Ely Food Shelf where Donna Rogers volunteers. We always say, Lily fans have three goals: to learn about bears, to share the knowledge, and help the area where the radio-collared research bears live.
More tomorrow.
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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:39 pm
Update December 3, 2010 – 8:53 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 04 December 2010 at 03:54
Sun at last!
The sun came out, brightening the snow and putting a sparkle in the eyes of chickadees. The view past the chickadee is across Woods Lake where beavers are busy eating and sleeping in their lodge on the shore. Deer tracks cover the Wildlife Research Institute yard. The driveway shot shows the Research Center, Lynn’s van that carries participants in the Black Bear Field Courses, and the second floor windows where this is being written.
We loved your response of wanting to help Ely’s Food Shelf in the name of the research bears we are trying to protect. There is a discussion page with the contact information for various food shelves at https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=263755115498&topic=18988
The highlight today was seeing the Black Bear Box and its contents that Trish Kirk and Team put together. Part of that team is Trish’s husband Tim Muench who built the boxes. Tomorrow, we’ll show some of the contents. This is a big step forward for the Educational Outreach Project. The boxes, 12 of them at this point, will circulate among schools, provide feedback, and get better and better. They are off to a great start from what we have seen. More tomorrow.
There has been some confusion about the bear stories we asked for in the update a couple nights ago. This is the same request we made in the March 25 update. The stories submitted in response to that request were accidentally deleted. For more detail on what type of stories we’re looking for, we quote the March 25 update:
We have long thought of collecting people’s bear encounters for a book. 92,000 Facebook fans might hold the key. The stories need not be long or exciting. Something as simple as “I saw a bear and it ran away” would be okay, fleshed out with the location, what you were doing, etc. Just the fact that it’s a bear is enough excitement. We’re thinking of the stories being short, like a paragraph or a page or two. Next, we would need someone to edit the stories a bit possibly and design the book. We’re imagining that the book might be used as bedtime stories. The book will contrast with hunting magazines because it will not be a lot of hype and danger—just stories of real bears. Most of the stories will likely be of benign encounters and end by expressing the feelings the people have about the experience. It will also contrast with newspaper stories that usually talk about bear encounters as problems that must be dealt with before something terrible happens. The book will be about what happened, not about what the person was afraid would happen. Just good factual events and the person’s feelings about it. If you want to contribute and give permission to publish your story, email your story to bearstories@bear.org with your contact information and a statement that you give permission to edit it for grammar and to publish it with your name.
Thank you for all you do and for what is coming out of the Education Project Corelyn Senn is coordinating.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Saturday, 04 December 2010 at 03:54
Sun at last!
The sun came out, brightening the snow and putting a sparkle in the eyes of chickadees. The view past the chickadee is across Woods Lake where beavers are busy eating and sleeping in their lodge on the shore. Deer tracks cover the Wildlife Research Institute yard. The driveway shot shows the Research Center, Lynn’s van that carries participants in the Black Bear Field Courses, and the second floor windows where this is being written.
We loved your response of wanting to help Ely’s Food Shelf in the name of the research bears we are trying to protect. There is a discussion page with the contact information for various food shelves at https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=263755115498&topic=18988
The highlight today was seeing the Black Bear Box and its contents that Trish Kirk and Team put together. Part of that team is Trish’s husband Tim Muench who built the boxes. Tomorrow, we’ll show some of the contents. This is a big step forward for the Educational Outreach Project. The boxes, 12 of them at this point, will circulate among schools, provide feedback, and get better and better. They are off to a great start from what we have seen. More tomorrow.
There has been some confusion about the bear stories we asked for in the update a couple nights ago. This is the same request we made in the March 25 update. The stories submitted in response to that request were accidentally deleted. For more detail on what type of stories we’re looking for, we quote the March 25 update:
We have long thought of collecting people’s bear encounters for a book. 92,000 Facebook fans might hold the key. The stories need not be long or exciting. Something as simple as “I saw a bear and it ran away” would be okay, fleshed out with the location, what you were doing, etc. Just the fact that it’s a bear is enough excitement. We’re thinking of the stories being short, like a paragraph or a page or two. Next, we would need someone to edit the stories a bit possibly and design the book. We’re imagining that the book might be used as bedtime stories. The book will contrast with hunting magazines because it will not be a lot of hype and danger—just stories of real bears. Most of the stories will likely be of benign encounters and end by expressing the feelings the people have about the experience. It will also contrast with newspaper stories that usually talk about bear encounters as problems that must be dealt with before something terrible happens. The book will be about what happened, not about what the person was afraid would happen. Just good factual events and the person’s feelings about it. If you want to contribute and give permission to publish your story, email your story to bearstories@bear.org with your contact information and a statement that you give permission to edit it for grammar and to publish it with your name.
Thank you for all you do and for what is coming out of the Education Project Corelyn Senn is coordinating.
—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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:40 pm
Update December 4, 2010 – 4:14 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 05 December 2010 at 02:12
Black Bear Boxes
Black Bear Box with partial contents
The highlight today is the big step forward in the Education Outreach Project so many of you are helping directly or with the proceeds from your web store purchases. We usually don’t name individuals for fear of leaving someone out, but Trish Kirk and Helen Schwartz made such an effort to get the facts that we may be safe this time. Here is their information with some editing and additions:
Contributors to Black Bear Boxes
one of the 30 Black Bear Facts posters
Items made by Lily fans
Helen Schwarz made the PowerPoint presentation ABC's of Bears. Penni Storts and Kelie Stegh made the ABC tree and Guide. Denise Beverly made the Black Bear Fact Posters. Mary Anderson made the forest-theme flannel board set plus (9)puppets to go with books for each Pre-K to 2nd grade boxes. Sarah Endsley made the 'Touch and Feel Bags' for Pre-K – 2nd grade boxes. Kim A. Cabrera made a 'Black Bear Tracks, Scats, and Signs Concentration Game.' Connie Schutta made Puppet Bags with help from students from Americorps. Cathy Nagle-Ervin made DVD's of Wildlife Research Institute's videos of Black Bear Behavior. Tom Hennigan made a Powerpoint presentation on hibernation. Tim Muench designed and built the Boxes. Trish Kirk was the overall coordinator to bring all the materials together, including the materials listed below. She ordered materials as needed and put together the manual which will eventually become a book.
Alphabet Tree
Items donated by Lily fans
Additional folks kindly donated items for the Black Bear Boxes: Cindy Honchar donated 'Lily's Big Event' for the Pre-K through 6 grade Boxes; Rhonda Becker donated card holders for 'Bear Fact' card game; and Saint Germain, Wisconsin taxidermist Cynthia Christman donated black bear hides.
Items bought with proceeds from purchases by Lily fans
Among the other items included in the Black Bear Boxes are a black bear skull replica, a section of a black bear's hide, authentic black bear scat with magnifying box; track molds and black bear track replicas, a variety of age-appropriate books and dvd's about black bears, Black Bear Tracking Stencils with guide to understanding gaits and track patterns, a black bear's 'Woodland Menu' poster, 'Black Bear Facts' posters, the 2011 Wildlife Research Institute Research Bears Calendar, including Shadow's Family Tree, and a Black Bear Box Manual packed full of information and activities.
puppets to accompany books
More items may be added by the time online scheduling of the Black Bear Boxes begins in the near future.
And this is just a start. We’ll get feedback from teachers about what works for the different grade levels. We’ll add items as new ideas emerge. So far there are 12 boxes to circulate, one to be on exhibit at the Bear Center, and one extra to make sure we can send boxes out to classrooms on schedule. This is a pilot project to be expanded. People have been quietly working on this project for months. And more education outreach projects are in the pipeline.
On a related topic, 378 teachers have responded to the survey about how Lily and Hope were used in the classroom. Many of the teachers who responded gave ideas for the education outreach project.
On another topic, send in your stories of bear encounters as was mentioned in the update last night. Send them to bearstories@bear.org. Janice Edens will edit them for grammar and get them ready to be published in a book of Bear Tales.
On Lily and Hope’s den cams, people are ordering equipment. Time is growing short. We have to put it all together and see what kind of bandwidth we get.
The address of the Ely Food Shelf is 102 East Sheridan Street, PO Box 786, Ely, MN 55731.
Thank you for all you do as evidenced in part above.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
by Lily the Black Bear on Sunday, 05 December 2010 at 02:12
Black Bear Boxes
Black Bear Box with partial contents
The highlight today is the big step forward in the Education Outreach Project so many of you are helping directly or with the proceeds from your web store purchases. We usually don’t name individuals for fear of leaving someone out, but Trish Kirk and Helen Schwartz made such an effort to get the facts that we may be safe this time. Here is their information with some editing and additions:
Contributors to Black Bear Boxes
one of the 30 Black Bear Facts posters
Items made by Lily fans
Helen Schwarz made the PowerPoint presentation ABC's of Bears. Penni Storts and Kelie Stegh made the ABC tree and Guide. Denise Beverly made the Black Bear Fact Posters. Mary Anderson made the forest-theme flannel board set plus (9)puppets to go with books for each Pre-K to 2nd grade boxes. Sarah Endsley made the 'Touch and Feel Bags' for Pre-K – 2nd grade boxes. Kim A. Cabrera made a 'Black Bear Tracks, Scats, and Signs Concentration Game.' Connie Schutta made Puppet Bags with help from students from Americorps. Cathy Nagle-Ervin made DVD's of Wildlife Research Institute's videos of Black Bear Behavior. Tom Hennigan made a Powerpoint presentation on hibernation. Tim Muench designed and built the Boxes. Trish Kirk was the overall coordinator to bring all the materials together, including the materials listed below. She ordered materials as needed and put together the manual which will eventually become a book.
Alphabet Tree
Items donated by Lily fans
Additional folks kindly donated items for the Black Bear Boxes: Cindy Honchar donated 'Lily's Big Event' for the Pre-K through 6 grade Boxes; Rhonda Becker donated card holders for 'Bear Fact' card game; and Saint Germain, Wisconsin taxidermist Cynthia Christman donated black bear hides.
Items bought with proceeds from purchases by Lily fans
Among the other items included in the Black Bear Boxes are a black bear skull replica, a section of a black bear's hide, authentic black bear scat with magnifying box; track molds and black bear track replicas, a variety of age-appropriate books and dvd's about black bears, Black Bear Tracking Stencils with guide to understanding gaits and track patterns, a black bear's 'Woodland Menu' poster, 'Black Bear Facts' posters, the 2011 Wildlife Research Institute Research Bears Calendar, including Shadow's Family Tree, and a Black Bear Box Manual packed full of information and activities.
puppets to accompany books
More items may be added by the time online scheduling of the Black Bear Boxes begins in the near future.
And this is just a start. We’ll get feedback from teachers about what works for the different grade levels. We’ll add items as new ideas emerge. So far there are 12 boxes to circulate, one to be on exhibit at the Bear Center, and one extra to make sure we can send boxes out to classrooms on schedule. This is a pilot project to be expanded. People have been quietly working on this project for months. And more education outreach projects are in the pipeline.
On a related topic, 378 teachers have responded to the survey about how Lily and Hope were used in the classroom. Many of the teachers who responded gave ideas for the education outreach project.
On another topic, send in your stories of bear encounters as was mentioned in the update last night. Send them to bearstories@bear.org. Janice Edens will edit them for grammar and get them ready to be published in a book of Bear Tales.
On Lily and Hope’s den cams, people are ordering equipment. Time is growing short. We have to put it all together and see what kind of bandwidth we get.
The address of the Ely Food Shelf is 102 East Sheridan Street, PO Box 786, Ely, MN 55731.
Thank you for all you do as evidenced in part above.
—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 Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:41 pm
Update December 5, 2010 – 8:09 PM CST
by Lily the Black Bear on Monday, 06 December 2010 at 02:57
Den Checks Begin
Artwork by Linda Gibson and Nadine Long
With Sue and Lynn buried in paperwork and den cam preparations, it fell to Jason to start the den checks to see if bears moved during deer season. He radio-located Juliet, Jo, and Lily in the general location of their known dens and we presume they are fine. When bears leave dens because of disturbance, they generally move far enough away so there is no doubt they have relocated.
Snow has now made the road to Lily’s den nearly impassable for Jason’s 4-wheel drive pickup, so getting there to install the den cam in a couple weeks may not be by truck. A man who plows snow for a living said he already plowed more snow this fall than he did all last winter. It will make things a lot easier if the snow gives us a break for a couple weeks now.
New items were added to the bear.org gift shop today: nightshirts, sweatshirts, and T-shirts with a hibernating Lily and Hope image; and a vest with a mother and cub image. Artwork for both designs is by Lily fans Linda Gibson and Nadine Long. We created a 'New Items' category so they are easy to find in the web store.
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 Monday, 06 December 2010 at 02:57
Den Checks Begin
Artwork by Linda Gibson and Nadine Long
With Sue and Lynn buried in paperwork and den cam preparations, it fell to Jason to start the den checks to see if bears moved during deer season. He radio-located Juliet, Jo, and Lily in the general location of their known dens and we presume they are fine. When bears leave dens because of disturbance, they generally move far enough away so there is no doubt they have relocated.
Snow has now made the road to Lily’s den nearly impassable for Jason’s 4-wheel drive pickup, so getting there to install the den cam in a couple weeks may not be by truck. A man who plows snow for a living said he already plowed more snow this fall than he did all last winter. It will make things a lot easier if the snow gives us a break for a couple weeks now.
New items were added to the bear.org gift shop today: nightshirts, sweatshirts, and T-shirts with a hibernating Lily and Hope image; and a vest with a mother and cub image. Artwork for both designs is by Lily fans Linda Gibson and Nadine Long. We created a 'New Items' category so they are easy to find in the web store.
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
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