Scott and Heidi at Holly's denHolly emerged from her den when her friend Heidi arrived with Scott Edgett and Judy Thon to work on her Den Cam. Heidi led Holly up to the fence so she wouldn’t be disturbed by Scott and Judy moving the den cam. They decided to take it out of the tube and put it in a tree to view the den from a few feet away. Holly immediately spotted it and discombobulated it. The team will return tomorrow to do what they can.
Den Cam tubeLinda Gibson ran into a major problem today with Juliet’s den cam archives, including the high def video that was being recorded in the Den Shed, much of the time while WildEarth.TV was down. The hard drive with that valuable video failed, meaning no highlight videos of Juliet until we see if a company that specializes in recovering data from failed hard drives can see what they can do.
Keep checking the archives at http://www.bearstudy.org/website/research/2014-juliet-archives.html, each night we will open up the next day's archives so you can watch them yourself.
For tonight, we have a 1-minute highlight video of June Bear from April 28, 2009. The high for the day is 48°F, and the last patches of snow are melting. June, Jewel, and Jordan came across one of them and June seemed happy to have found it. She spent the whole highlight video showing how to cool off on a warm, sunny day when a bear is on the move with a thick coat of underfur. http://youtu.be/4irZS4f3X54 Jewel and Jordan took note of June’s actions but ended up running for the safety of a tree. Maybe this is a behavior they haven’t seen before.
Scott pulling out Holly's camThank you for the support for the bears we are seeing. The 2 links below have contact information for writing to your Minnesota State Representative or Senator.
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/hmem.asp http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/hmem.asp
What we have been hearing is outrage that the DNR would try to make yet another law to govern what people do on their own property. “Bird” feeders are actually wildlife feeders. They attract both birds and mammals, including deer and bears. The proposed law says that the feed must be placed solely for the purpose of attracting and feeding wild birds and small mammals. But deer are not small mammals. What if a deer comes. Has the bird feeder violated the law?
Scott rests cam on branchesThe proposed law says the bird feeders must be placed “at a sufficient height or of a design to prevent access by bears.” What if a bear climbs a tree and gets a bird feeder and what if a bear proves that a design was not sufficient to prevent access by bears that have teeth and claws sufficient to tear apart pretty strong feeders? Has the bird feeder violated the law?
Does the law leave it up to bird feeders to decide what they consider sufficient height and design to prevent access by bears and then ticket them if they are wrong? Do people want to hang feeders so high that not only bears can’t get them but people can’t easily refill them either?
We don’t need a law putting bird feeders in jeopardy for putting out nuts and suet and sunflower seeds that are favorites for squirrels, woodpeckers, and other birds and getting them ticketed if a bear doesn’t understand that the food was not for it?
Holly returns to denHowever, it remains okay for hunters to put out tons of bait for bears beginning in mid-August. How do bears know the difference between feeding and baiting? Some of the bears that visit baits are killed--especially trophy bears. Cubs, small bears, mothers with cubs, and bears that visit at night after shooting hours tend to be spared.
Is the DNR meddling too much in people’s enjoyment of nature here—especially for those who enjoy seeing bears? People have fed bears in this community for decades and had the lowest complaint rate in the region according to DNR records which include a record of 8 straight years with no complaints. Some of the bears in this bear-feeding community are used to seeing people. Nevertheless, complaints are low. What’s the problem the DNR thinks they are fixing with this intrusive law?
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center