Worried about Hope
Worried about Hope
May 29, 2010 – 10:38 PM CDT
Lily is enthralled with Hope. She won’t leave her. She runs back grunting when Hope lags behind. But we believe Lily’s milk is drying up from the 5 days of not nursing.
Hope has lost her 'spunk' and we are worried.
Our examination of Lily’s breasts today (Saturday) showed hard lumps without much of the soft tissue that surrounded the lumps when we examined them on Wednesday morning, the fifth day of separation.
After they were reunited that evening, and again during observations the next day, Lily nursed Hope a lot. We hoped nursing would stimulate milk production if it indeed had diminished during their 5-day separation. We wondered at that time if the unusual, hard, lumpy portion of Lily’s mammary glands could produce milk. We now doubt it. Today those lumps are still there, but the soft surrounding portions of the breasts are flaccid, not swollen with milk as they were 3 days ago.
Hope didn’t nurse in the entire 3.5 hours Sue observed them this afternoon. Hope attempted to nurse once but a distant sound scared Lily and she stood up and looked attentively in that direction. Hope fed on mountain maple blossoms, young raspberry leaves, and peavine—but none of these foods make up for the lack of Lily’s rich milk. Hope defecated twice during the walk. One scat contained crayfish parts and both scats were collected for further analysis.
Lily tries to play with Hope. Hope used to come back for more rough play. Now she whines and wants to rest.
On the other hand, Hope won’t let Lily out of her sight. When Lily entered the water, Hope followed and swam (82 F today). When Lily moved off, Hope followed but soon tired. Lily tried to drag Hope along. This is the time of year bears need to travel to find ant colonies to eat the larvae and pupae, which is usually the first major food for cubs. Mothers open the logs and turn over the rocks and cubs dash in and eat. Hope tries to follow but has no energy and has to rest.
Hope is no longer the vigorous cub she was before the separation or just 3 days ago. Before, she could climb a tree as fast as a squirrel and run like a rabbit. Today, she climbed 5 feet and was so weak she had difficulty hanging on. She bit a branch to keep from falling. She later climbed high into another tree looking like she wanted to rest, but Lily moved off and Hope came down to follow.
While examining Lily, we gave Hope a cup of sweetened condensed milk. She consumed it voraciously. She was so engrossed in the milk that she allowed an examination for the first time. Under her fur, she is emaciated, in muscle breakdown, with prominent shoulder and hip bones.
With this information, saving Hope becomes our focus. We are getting criticized for intervening. In a future update we may cover the many reasons why helping is right ethically and scientifically. We are seeking help from veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators, and wildlife agencies, leaving no stone unturned on how best to save Hope’s life and give her a long life in the wild.
On a more positive note, a very generous anonymous donor has stepped forward offering to match 2 to 1 up to $100,000 any donations given in the month of June. That means if someone donates a dollar, the anonymous donor will give two dollars up to $100,000 for a total of $150,000.
Thank you so much for your recent outpouring of support.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center