With the Bear Moon of birthing giving way to the almost full Snow Moon, I’m thinking about bear mothers giving tender care to the cubs they gave birth to this month.
 Bear Moon |
 Snow Moon |
I’m also thinking of the bears in Shadow’s clan that did so much to change people’s attitudes around the world. At the core of the worldwide movement toward coexistence with bears was Shadow giving birth to June in 2001 starting the lineage that made so much happen for bears. In 2007, June gave birth to Lily and in 2009 gave birth to Jewel who would both grow up to be the den cam mothers of 2010-2013. No one who was around for what followed can ever forget how Lily shook the world with love and joy in 2010 when she gave birth to Hope and the two made such a difference for bears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GIl_XcvDso
The picture is of Lily and Hope on August 16, 2010 after they reunited. The link is to a 10 minute and 57 seconds video of Lily, Hope, Faith, and Jason made by Olatz (a fan and supporter of the research) who brought so many people together around them as these bears created a worldwide shift toward coexisting with bears.
It is heartbreaking to think of what happened on September 16, but in an effort to think positively, we can only guess how many bear lives Hope and Lily saved around the world with all they and their followers did to change people’s attitudes.
Thank you for all you have done and are doing for bears.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center