Turkey VultureToday was a fun way to end National Volunteer Week by doing a podcast with Judy Thon and Volunteer Co-Director Terry Hagenah and to meet the enthusiastic Bear Educators taking a class this weekend in preparation for helping with the bears and visitors at the Bear Center and Ecology Hall this summer.
Mallard Pair FlyingOn this beautiful blue sky day, it was nice to take a 3-hour break from the computer and see returning wildlife on the way to the Bear Center and back. We are impressed once again by the value of the many volunteers who make the Bear Center so much more than would otherwise be possible. I’m very glad that a volunteer captured the Podcast on this final day of National Volunteer Week. It includes tribute to our number one volunteer Donna Rogers. Without her help, there would be no Bear Center. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8c2pZ9AZHM
Lynn speaking to Bear Educator classOn another topic, we saw the article about Alaska officials planning to euthanize a family of bears that tipped over garbage cans and let residents crowd around them with cameras. https://www.adn.com/article/20150416/ fish-and-game-plans-kill-family-black-bears-government-hill? fb_action_ ids=10200333452816973&fb_action_types=og.comments We can say with pride that this situation of bears going from house to house making messes is not something we see in Eagles Nest Community. We also did not see that in the previous area we studied the effects of diversionary feeding. Does diversionary feeding create nuisance bears and jeopardize public safety? In both study areas, the bears went to feeding stations and bypassed opportunities to make messes along the way. I’m sure people crowded around them with cameras at some of the feeding stations. They enjoyed watching the bears, and it was fine for 50 years. Now, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials want to end that and go back to bears going house to house in times of scarce natural food and being killed by officials and homeowners for doing so. Lily Fans know better. Thank you for helping the bears by working to defeat the feeding ban section of SF1303.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.