RC and cub - photo taken in 2012Lily was last captured on a trail cam at a feeding station on September 21. By then, most of the hunting effort had passed, and she was at the edge of a state park, so we believe we will see her again. Trail cams captured views of Ember still coming to a feeding station October 12. Aster looked very tired when she was last seen on a trail cam at a feeding station on August 27 at the edge of a state park. We like to think she denned shortly after that, which is why we were anxious to check her old den. Fern was seen at a feeding station October 9. RC and her 3 cubs were last seen at a feeding station on September 29. We never saw Faith at a feeding station this year, so we suspect she stayed in her mostly roadless area like she did last year, which would mean there would be very little hunting effort in her territory.
The NABC staff is getting ready for some pre-Halloween family fun aimed at kids 11 and under at the Bear Center from 3 to 6 PM this Saturday, October 18. This 2-minute video shows some of the preparations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm82dTk1p78. It’s for little kids, so it will focus on games and not be too scary.
For education, staff and dedicated volunteers have upgraded the Black Bear Boxes for classrooms and have lengthened the period a school can keep a box to 1 month. That allows time for the box to circulate among classrooms. The new boxes are designed for maximum stimulation of learning and has additional materials to aid teachers. The innovators who put this together made the improvements based on feedback over the past couple years. This press release announcing release of the new boxes tells much more. http://www.bearstudy.org/website/images/stories/images/Updates_2014/20141016_BlackBearBoxRelease.pdf.
Experience and learning can steer a career. We were happy to hear from a volunteer who walked with bears with us years back. She is now an Associate Professor at a major university sharing her knowledge of bears at every opportunity just like so many Lily Fans do.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center