Lily among horsetailWe saw how Lily Fans share our concern about Aster’s wound. Late yesterday afternoon, we saw that the oozing had increased again despite encouraging signs of healing earlier. Today, we requested permission from the DNR to intervene, considering that the wound was caused by a bullet rather than a natural cause. Our attorneys wrote to the Attorney General’s office, “We are writing on behalf of Dr. Rogers to request permission for Dr. Rogers to commence a course of treatment of antibiotics to a bear known as “Aster.” Aster was shot during last fall’s hunting season. Aster’s gunshot wound appears to be infected and is oozing pus. Dr. Rogers requests a response to this request today, so that treatment may be administered over the weekend. If you are not the correct recipients of this request, please either let me know who to send it to, or forward it accordingly. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Pileated female with youngThe DNR kindly responded in a timely manner through the Attorney General’s office, saying, “The permit issued to Dr. Rogers is a research permit. The position of the DNR is that neither the terms of Dr. Rogers’ research permit, nor the District Court order, authorize the administration of antibiotics to bears in the situation you describe. To the extent Dr. Rogers is seeking a permit to administer the antibiotics, the DNR indicates that it generally does not grant permits to administer veterinary services to animals in the wild.”
Pileated male feeding youngAlthough this would seem to show a lack of caring by the DNR, that is not necessarily the case. There can be legitimate concerns about administering antibiotics to wild animals that might become inaccessible before a course of treatment is complete. Skipping daily doses can negate benefits and could lead to antibiotic resistance. So we have always used careful judgment about administering antibiotics to wild bears, limiting such treatment to bears we knew we could contact regularly. The fact that Aster uses community feeding stations and is generally accessible made us consider such treatment, but it is not to be. Her actions indicate she is doing fine despite the oozing. She travels long distances like the other bears. The moderate snugness of her radio-collar indicates she is gaining weight. In our examination of her yesterday, we found no injury despite her interactions with Lily in Lily’s territory these past several days. The only slight flinch we saw in response to our touch was when we touched adjacent to the wound. We have seen two other bears (One-eyed Jack and BBKing ooze pus from wounds for years and do fine as far as weight gain, travels, mating success, and longevity go. Neither bear flinched when we touched their wounds, suggesting they were not living in pain. Based on that, we believe Aster will do fine.
LilyWe changed Lily's batteries this afternoon. She was good enough to walk to our side of the swamp—saving us from wet feet. She looks fine after her skirmishes with Aster.
Holly, Ted, and HoneyOn a happy note, Lucky finally got an opportunity to express his playfulness with Holly right in front of Holly’s webcam. Lily Fans captured it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBldjH_gEaM&feature=youtu.be. The door to Holly’s enclosure was open so she could roam as she pleased. She entered her enclosure and Lucky followed. Holly retreated to the front corner and climbed for safety. Lucky actually bounded over, stood up, and engaged in gentle but wild play with cornered little Holly. The play looked mutual. Lucky backed off and shortly came back for more. He had broken the ice. We think this could be the start of something big. Lucky and Holly are both playful bears. Will Holly continue to run away from Lucky? We hope most of their play is where we can all revel in it. When Holly learns she can play with the big bears, will she dare engage big Ted? We've never seen Holly so carefree around Ted like we saw today (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb870DLyOTg). Great that Lily Fans captured the action!
Pileated male leaving nestWe have maybe a week to capture the pileated woodpeckers in action for an exhibit in the Northwoods Ecology Hall. A nest outside our window is a major opportunity to video and photograph this spectacular woodpecker. Today, we caught the female with all three young—mouths gaping for food. The top two young are male and the bottom one with the red crest not extending to the beak is a female. Their individual markings will make them identifiable into the future, as will the markings of the parents. Their tameness and the markings of the female makes us think it is the same pair that used this nest in 2006. We can check that further with Sue’s video from that time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0I-p7qbHA). Today, we also caught the male pounding food down the gullet of one of the young. Then he entered the nest and flew out directly toward the camera with a bit of feces in his beak. We left the high def video running as the parents came and went.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.