Inside Faith's den - Oct 20, 2012
Faith in den - Oct 20, 2012We visited Faith’s den this afternoon to see if she's begun to rake bedding in. She hasn’t. She was in the den, and from all appearances, she had not been out of her den for days. There was no sign of raking around the den, and when she came out to see us, we snapped a quick picture of the inside. Nope. No bedding in her den. It seems she still has some work to do.
Trumpeter swan - Oct 20, 2012Although all the radio-collared bears are in dens and the warblers and most migrants are gone, eagles and trumpeter swans are still here.
Monsters - Oct 19, 2012Last night, creative staff and volunteers put on the first of two nights of scary Halloween activities at the Bear Center. Over the past few days, Bear Center staff created an amazing haunted maze complete with spooky mist. 
Monster hug - Oct 19, 2012To get to the maze, kids had to brave the ‘terrors’ of the Nature Trail. Kids loved it—but it was hard to tell who had the most fun… the kids… or the ‘adult’ monsters!
Big smile - Oct 19, 2012Today at the Bear Center, Mark Peterson http://dustypromotions.com/ stopped by with his famous horse Dusty and had Dusty sign autographs, give kisses to kids, and show his amazing understanding of Mark’s requests. Mark: “Do you like little girls?” Dusty nods. Mark, “Go kiss that little girl.” Dusty does it. Mark to the little girl: “Hold out your arms to give Dusty a hug.” She does, and Dusty puts his head in her arms and snuggles it against her chest as she hugs Dusty’s head.
Dusty signs autographs - Oct 20, 2012
Dusty gets a hug - Oct 20, 2012A man accidentally dropped a hat. Mark asked Dusty to pick up the hat and give it to the man. Dusty did. Mark is not a horse trainer. He was just fortunate to acquire an intelligent horse that he treated like a human partner. Pretty soon, Dusty was responding like a human—opening doors and refrigerators to get items for Mark, answering questions with nods and smiles, and enjoying attention from Mark and their audiences.
Lily’s Ladies had a fundraiser on Facebook today, continuing into tomorrow. Thank you to all who participated.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center