Chloe standing alert
Chloe and her two male yearlings were back at 12:55 PM. After eating for about the same half-hour as yesterday, Chloe made moves to go, grunting to her cubs. Charley Brown, who sticks more closely to Chloe, joined her immediately. Lincoln kept eating. Chloe paced around grunting for several minutes and then started to leave with Charley Brown, leaving Lincoln behind. But then the two stopped, looking tensely down the trail ahead of them. High tension. Charley Brown broke and ran for a tree. Seconds later Chloe ran in the same direction but stopped, stood up, and looked back. She seemed to decide it was too scary and continued away, grunting more emphatically. Lincoln saw and heard the urgency, ran to them, and they all hurried off together.
 Chloe and Charley Brown alert |
 Charley Brown run to tree |
Down the driveway, a doe calmly walked out of the woods from where Chloe and Charley Brown had focused their anxiety. I think it was a false alarm and just another example of how cautious some bears can be. Seeing Chloe’s caution makes me feel the more honored that she accepts me and the others here.
At 7:19 PM, they were back. Charley Brown was good to step on the scale for a weight of 57 pounds—a plenty good survival weight for this time of year. I’m hoping the others will do the same soon for our records.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center