Holly in cedar For the 11 AM enrichment, Holly and Ted were out together. They didn’t come close to each other but Holly seemed more comfortable.
For the 1 PM enrichment, Holly was by herself down in front of the viewing windows, comfortable with her reflection and paying attention only to people moving behind the windows. She sat and ate with her head swiveling constantly as she chewed.
While she waited for the 4 PM enrichment, Holly spent some time up the cedar tree by the viewing deck with people on the deck snapping pictures at eye level. She also spent time high up the white pine on this somewhat cloudy 65F day. On such days, the white pine provides a great view for a Lucky-watcher.
Holly climbs cedarFor the 4 PM enrichment, Honey was hanging out near Ted’s pen, and Holly was still up the white pine. Sharon enticed her down and they walked to the viewing area. Lucky appeared, and Holly ran to the base of the cedar tree in the viewing area and stood there hanging onto the base of the tree expressing her nervousness by clacking her teeth a couple times, making her muzzle long and narrow, and blowing. The staff gave Lucky a watermelon on the scale. Holly saw Lucky engrossed in the watermelon and calmly strolled by the scale behind him. Eventually, Lucky hurried toward Holly who went round and round some nearby trees in a seemingly playful manner.
Aspen that Holly climbedNot long after, Holly went up near Ted’s pen and climbed a tall aspen tree. The tree is inches from the fence and has a strand of electric fence around it. She got zapped on the way up. Later as she descended, she got zapped again and climbed back up the tree. Judy Thon cut the electric wire, and Sharon Herrell sat at the base with food and a familiar voice. Holly moaned a few times clinging to the top of the tree and then cautiously began descending. When she was only 15 feet off the ground, she looked around, presumably for the other bears. She urinated when her foot touched an insulator where the wire had been removed, and then she came on down. Sharon rewarded her with kind words and some nuts and grapes. Holly rejected her bottle.
Out in the woods, Lily and Aster were in their own territories nowhere near each other. A video of Aster taken yesterday is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy6eQAWVriE.
Thank you for all you do.
—‑Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center