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Honey, Ted, and Braveheart - UPDATE April 20, 2016
20 April 2016
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Each year, Honey has a problem shedding her old hard foot pads, which means she walks carefully. This year, Honey has been getting around with her usual difficulty. Braveheart
Braveheart
Today, she didn?t want to walk down to the viewing area. She sat down a few feet outside her usual small pen. She avoided using her back paws. Scott and Sharon called the veterinarian. I stopped by the Bear Center for other reasons and saw the veterinarian going in, so when I followed her up to Honey and learned of the problem, I asked if the owner had been notified (she had).
The following update was posted on Bear Chat Picture Place facebook page:
?The vet came and Honey is getting some anti-inflammatory meds and some meds for pain. They suspect she may have an issue with her paws or hind legs, but can't say for certain. Honey is resting just outside of her Haven, so Lucky and Holly will be in their pen tonight so Honey can rest without being disturbed. They put a temporary fence up around her and her pen so she doesn't wander back to the pond area. Scott will give us an update tomorrow. Thank you all for your concern, sorry it took a little while to get an update, but Honey was the priority today. (ElyBears).?
Braveheart and her yearlings
I hope the meds help.
While I was up there, Heidi and I noticed that 19-year-old Ted?s forehead has more gray hairs than last year. So does 20-year-old Honey?s. We know older bears get gray hairs on their foreheads, but gray hairs weren?t noticeable for Shadow at that age. However, last year, at 28, she had a lot of gray hairs. I took pictures of Ted and Honey today and looked at a picture of Shadow from last summer. I darkened the pictures and increased the contrast to make the gray hairs more visible, so you can see what I saw. I can sympathize with the graying process.
Braveheart
Braveheart
To brighten my day, I got a call that Braveheart was two miles closer to the WRI and that she and her cubs were brightening the day of the landowners at a community feeding site. That site offers a big plastic swimming pool in summer and is popular with the bears. You can see the pool upside down in the background of the picture of the family. Lying down in the left foreground is Porter. Raised up a little between him and Braveheart is little Geneva. The one to the right is Stratton. When I first got there Braveheart was in the woods. I lay down to get her picture as she came out. I have known her since she was a cub. You?d think she?d want to at least say hi to me, but she knows me well enough to ignore me. She gave me no attention. Instead she was frequently on alert to sounds in other directions. She was going to walk past me about 5 feet away like I wasn?t there until I moved and she wondered if I might be moving to give her a treat. She took a couple steps toward me until I showed her my open empty hand and she immediately wheeled away to join her cubs. She was last seen heading toward the WRI maybe ? mile away, but she must have changed her mind. We haven?t seen her here yet.
Ted - 19-years
Shadow - 28-years
Honey - 20-years
With the excitement of her appearance in the area, a neighbor drove 60 miles to Hibbing to get food for the family. The attitude about bears is so different in this community that has gotten to know bears over the last half century of feeding. Fear has been replaced by fascination and caring. Individual bears matter. The residents know the bears as individuals with personalities. They respect the bears and treat them compassionately. We?re trying to spread that attitude. Anyone who comes here goes away with a different attitude. Many say their experiences here were life-changing. I hear from them years or decades later, thanking me for showing them the truth about black bears and making their time in the black bear country more enjoyable without fear.
Comptons Tortoise Shell Butterfly
Compton Tortoiseshell butterfly
Today started with a chorus of loon calls and ended with a chorus of spring peepers. Last night it was a chorus of wood frogs. A Compton Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum), the most common early butterfly here, landed nearby. The temperature reached 63?F today, and the ice was disappearing fast from the lakes in this area. Woods Lake and Robinson Lake are completely open.
The subscribers of the daily update will be receiving their email a bit later than usual tonight. We have a special mailing that is going out to the subscribers of our mailing list, which will be completed about 1am. After that mailing is complete, the daily update will begin sending. Some people have subscribed to both lists so they will receive two different emails.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Cente
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Topic: Jewel and her cubs (Read 2360099 times)