ARCHIVED WILDLIFE

Beth · **Posted:** Tue May 25, 2010 7:15 pm

Thanks Michele for the postive = uplifting Hope post!!

kittenface · **Posted:** Tue May 25, 2010 7:21 pm

Oh I hope! I hope! I hope!

LeeLee · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:54 pm **Posts:** 471

I am holding on to the thought that they will find our little sweetheart cub in time. She is a determined strong little bear cub, and I am hoping for a miracle here for everyone. I cannot stand the thought of any other outcome. If they can find her in time.... :girlluv:

eiguoc · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2010 9:25 am

The emotional roller coaster continues. Heartbreak is turning into hope. After a day of dealing with our emotions while telling many TV and newspaper reporters that we were making one last attempt to find her, we got a call while standing at the red pine. A neighbor had spotted Hope running out of their yard not 200 yards away from where we were. We hurried over.

May 25, 2010Hope was gone. We searched for a couple hours in the direction she went. We prepared a pan of diluted sweetened condensed milk with ground up pecans and put it the last place she was seen.

A few calls later, and a town official was heading over to put up a trail camera by the food.

We made calls to law enforcement and the fire department for an infra-red heat detection device to try to locate Hope in treetops against the night sky after it gets dark. At first we were unsuccessful, but the call was taken up by Beth Jett, anchorperson for Fox 21 News. Shortly, we got a call from Captain Tom Crossman of the St Louis County Rescue Squad that one of his men would shuttle a unit to us for the search tonight.

As soon as we finish writing this, we are heading out to search once again before it gets too dark.

Our goal is to find Hope and keep her alive in the forest in hopes Lily will reunite with her. Lily is currently 4 miles away, covering ground and maintaining her territory, but she will be back.

Thank you so much for your tremendous support the last few days. We are all pulling together for Hope. We were pretty down about it here. Some followers of the Lily and Hope saga knew better than us that she was still alive. As it turned out, she is not only alive but vigorous. The person who saw her said she ran away. Before all this, she was getting so strong she could climb as fast as a squirrel and run like a rabbit. As Kathy Allworth said, “She’s too sassy and spunky to be dead this quick.” Right on, Kathy.

Heading out.

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10249

Here's an update from Lily's Facebook Page:

Lily the Black Bear May 26, 2010 - 12:19 AM
No luck tonight finding Hope with the IR night-vision equipment. However, it's on loan to us for a bit and we'll try again. Our thanks to Mark Zimmerman of the St Louis County Rescue! Lots of activity in the area today with our searching so we feel it's best to let things quiet down. We don't scare her away from the area. We're hoping for some action on the trail camera. -- SM

Beth · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2010 10:50 am

Wish I was there to help search.

Thanks for the updates...

LeeLee · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:54 pm **Posts:** 471

Hold on Hope, we are looking for you sweetie. We want to bring you back to your mommie. Don't run from us. Don't be scared. Go to the sweet milk. Here we come...... :loveshow:

eiguoc · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2010 8:23 pm

Facebook Page ; Lily the Black Bear
It is Hope!!! She is in a cedar. -- SM54 minutes ago

Beth · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2010 8:28 pm

eiguoc · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2010 8:37 pm

Lisa Curtis EAGLES NEST TOWNSHIP (12 MILES WEST OF ELY) — Sue Mansfield started crying as soon as she saw the cub’s face.

Even with the cub 30 feet up a cedar tree, Ely bear researcher Mansfield knew it was Hope because of its light face.

After being missing since Friday evening, with researchers holding out little hope the cub was still alive, friends of Ely bear researcher Lynn Rogers called about 6 p.m. today to say they had a lone bear cub treed.

Mansfield and Rogers rushed to the site, which was nearly two miles from where the cub was last seen but was in an area that the cub and its mother Lily had frequented.

“This is where it spent much of its time, but it’s amazing it made it this far away in less than a day,” Rogers said.

Mansfield said the cub covered the two miles around the lake and likely had to swim a stream on its own to find the area where it had spent time with its mother.

Researchers now are deciding how to get the bear out of the tree and will likely wait for the cub, which appears weak, to come down on its own.

Rogers said a major question remains on whether Lily will accept Hope back. Because they’ve been apart for five days, Lily’s hormones may have turned to the new mating season and away from taking care of her cub.

Because Lily is fitted with a GPS collar that gives her location every 10 minutes, Rogers and Mansfield hope to find her yet tonight and reintroduce Hope to Lily to see the sow's reaction.

If Lily accepts Hope, the story will end with their reunion. If not, Rogers will have to decide what to do with the cub with input from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The cub could be raised by a wildlife rehabilitator and returned to the wild or could wind up as a captive bear at the North American Bear Center in Ely.

Beth · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2010 8:41 pm

Wonderful, terrific, marvelous news - thanks Pat :spingirl:

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10249

I'm crying tears of joy...1 hurdle passed...now the reunion

From Lily the Black Bear's Facebook Page:

Hope lured down with sweetened condensed milk. We have her in a pet carrier. We are looking for Lily.

:cheerlead:

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10249

Lily the Black Bear: Update May 26, 2010

Update May 26, 2010. Today at 8:28pm

Reunited at last!

It was the most satisfying moment of my 44 years of bear study. When Sue and I got the cub into the little carrier kennel and I saw Sue crying, I could hardly keep from breaking down myself. And then seeing Lily and Hope’s reunion was the most beautiful expression of animal emotion I have ever seen. Hope was bawling very loudly, and Lily was doing her pleasant grunts as Hope latched onto a nipple and Lily half dragged her nearer to the white pine where they had nursed together so many times in April.

Sue is readying video she took of the reunion. It’s late, and we were up half the night last night, so we’ll fill in details tomorrow.

Thank you all so much for pulling together with us as we all went through this emotional roller coaster. The roller coaster effect continued right up to the unexpectedly wonderful end. More on that tomorrow.

Thank you for the tremendous outpouring of support today. We can’t wait to meet many of you all at the Lilypad Picnic in a couple months.

—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, North American Bear Center

:hearts:

kittenface · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2010 12:01 am

All prayers answered

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10249

Yes, Indeed...Prayers Answered!

Here's the link to the reunion video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqqdkXpTfVc

eiguoc · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2010 6:28 am

That was the best wake up anyone has ever seen, cried thru my breakfast watching the video this morning, That beautiful sound that Hope made while nursing. God I love it

eiguoc · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2010 7:30 am

This will be a handsome buck

little fawn in hiding

Beth · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:31 am

kittenface · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2010 11:27 am

The video was very dark in the woods BUT THOSE SOUNDS were unmistakeable
I cried so hard hearing that my graanddaughter came and started crying with me
and had no idea why :lol:

macintosh · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2010 8:05 pm

These are the sweet sounds of reunion. Baby bear Hope and mama Lily reunited. After 5 days of separation Hope was... HUNGRY!
MULTIMEDIA
WATCH THE VIDEO
"It took a while to get together then that cub was on her, nursing"
Young Hope was feared lost, abandoned by its mother.
"There's a hypothesis out there that mothers that have one cub will abandon it so that they can mate again and have three cubs the next winter."
But well-known bear research Dr. Lynn Rogers was skeptical of that theory.
"When I saw how hard lily was looking for that cub after two days when she couldn't find her because of the rain had washed away the scent I thought there's actually a lot we can learn from this is almost like an experiment."
So Dr. Rogers stepped in and brought the young family back together.
"Sue put some sweetened condensed milk on a stick, the hungry little bearcub couldn't resist that, coaxed her down the tree and I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and tried to get her into the pet carrier."
Initially Hope was less than pleased; but later, overjoyed to see her mother.
"It was the most amazing display of animal emotions I've ever seen.
Hope and Lily have been hanging out near their den through much of today. Meanwhile researchers plan to continue to track the bear family in the hope of learning as much as possible about black bear behavior. In Ely, David Hoole, the Northland's News Center.

Bird Cams Around the World

ARCHIVED WILDLIFE

Who is online