RC and Spanky- UPDATE June 17, 2021
I forgot to include the Spanky and RC picture last night. To fill the story in a bit, Spanky arrived here with RC last evening but didn’t stick close to her at first. He took a bath, sniffed the scat shown in the picture last night and checked out Valentine who we believe was done with mating. She ran off. Spanky and RC
Spanky and RC
Then Spanky approached Lucy and her cubs but never got close. 5-year-od Lucy chased 6-year-old Spanky away with vigor. Persistant as Spanky often is, he came back to get chased off by Lucy again. Shortly, word came that he was mounting RC as is shown in the picture I finally included tonight. They left together. Later, people who recognize both these bears called in from a half mile away saying they saw RC slap him hard. They didn’t know what happened after that.
At 5 AM this morning, they passed through here together, hardly pausing for a bite to eat. No mounting. At about 6:15 this evening, RC was back here alone, calm, and hungry. That’s all we know. We’ll see if RC has cubs next year and if they look anything like Spanky.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center