Cubs are born!

Nine thousand sets of eyes and ears don’t miss much!  At 1:51 PM, everyone at the North American Bear Center was crowded around a big screen TV watching the Den Cam.  Someone said, “I thought I heard a squeal.”  The phone rang.  Lily’s fans had heard it, too.  At 3:03 PM, the same scenario played out.

We thought Lily had 2 cubs, but there is some confusion.  Reports of a 3^rd and 4^th came in, while some were skeptical whether the cub at 3:03 PM was just another squeal from the first one.  We are reviewing the video footage and removing the static from the audio to see if we can sort it out. With thousands of us listening and looking, we’ll figure this out sooner or later.  We’ll also be trying to determine sex(es) while we all think of name(s). A video of the birth(s) is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuH5ADPwx3Q, see what you think.

Lily put us on alert yesterday when she clenched her teeth at 5:08 PM.  Last year, teeth-clenching signaled the onset of labor, and Hope was born 21 hours and 39 minutes later.   This year, teeth-clenching to the birth at 1:51 PM was 20 hours and 43 minutes.

Lots of worries on this end.  At 12:30 AM, Sue was awakened by a call from a Den Cam Team member in South Africa saying the Den Cam was down.  Several calls later, the Team decided someone had to snowmobile to the shed and fix something.  Sue awakened Lynn at 1:30 AM with that news.  But the temperature was near 40 below zero.  Preparations had to be perfect to avoid a calamity.  Lynn said to wait for first light despite the possibility of missing the births.

Lynn lay awake wondering whether it should be Sue, Jason, or himself who possibly sacrifices his or her life to the cold?  It had to be Jason.  Jason (25) has no kids, grandkids, or girlfriend to miss him.  Sure, Lynn and Sue would miss this fun-loving, super intelligent guy with his amiable smile.  Sure, Jason has a bright future with his computer skills, wildlife degree, work ethic, love of animals, and passion for bears.  But given the choice of us or him, it had to be him.  Sue called him at dawn.  Jason and Lynn hooked up.  Feeling guilty, Lynn offered him food.  Jason didn’t feel like eating.  By then, the temperature had warmed to minus 38.  His facemask and warm hat wouldn’t be enough.  He needed a helmet.  Lynn called the mayor who has a snowmobile rental business.  No answer.  He called Paul Forsman, chairman emeritus of the North American Bear Center.  Paul is a big snowmobiler and has a big heart.  He said “Come on over.”  At his house, Paul selected a nice helmet and gave it to Jason to keep.  Paul then dug out a beautiful down jacket he had worn once and burned the sleeve.  He gave it to Jason to wear over the insulated coveralls Jason had borrowed from Charlie Meyer.  Jason would survive.  Lynn felt better.

By 9:15 AM, Jason had the video streaming again.

The next worry was whether Hope would disrupt the new litter by trying to nurse, letting in potentially lethal cold on these days of near record low temperatures. We were surprised to hear Hope still suckling as Lily was bracing for delivery of the 1:51 PM cub. We also were surprised by how quiet Hope was during and after the delivery.

The occasion that brought people together at the Bear Center was the birthday party for Sue Mansfield, John Leonard, Lily, Hope, and, as it turned out, Lily’s new litter.  Sue is thankful for the many thoughtful cards and gifts!  The committee that sent the food couldn’t have done better.  We again felt the deep gratitude for all you do.  We’re seeing us mature as a group with talented Lily fans spontaneously organizing into committees and teams to do more for bears.  We wonder what all will come out of this.  The feeling of getting together was wonderful.  We look forward to the Lilypad Picnic in July.  With Donna Rogers, we will be returning from the International Bear Conference in Ontario the first day of the picnic.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center