Week #11:
Goodbye, Bears.

August 11, 2017

They say to leave the best for last, and I think my biggest takeaway from this internship happened this week.

It was the first and last mistake the interns made all summer during an enrichment/broadcast with Lucky.  I was the one speaking for the broadcast letting the people visiting at the center and online know what was happening.  My co-workers threw out the enrichment for Lucky and he happily went for it.  Lucky is the bear that uses his nose the most out of our four bears and also has excellent problem solving skills.  I was explaining how a bear’s nasal mucosa area is 100x larger than that of a humans and that they can smell better than a bloodhound.  I also explained how bears, Lucky in particular, will tear into logs to get to ants nests to eat the immature bugs.  And, I also explained how our bears are entering this phase called hyperphagia- where their number one concern is food and eating as much as they can to gain weight for hibernation.

Lucky finished his enrichment and went to the bear scale and started to destroy it.  I was confused at first, but then I saw it.  My co-workers left out a bucket of trail mix and it was behind the scale and electric wire.  I don’t know if Lucky saw it, but he could certainly smell it, and he was going to find it.  I described the situation carefully so the people with me would think everything was okay, but also to alert my co-workers at lunch.  Apparently, they ran out when they heard.  Sharon, our bear curator, was outside and couldn’t hear me, but she saw the bucket and realized the situation herself.  She grabbed it and called Lucky.  At that point, the bear was having too much fun tearing the scale apart.  Sharon went into the enclosure which she does only when she sees it necessary and called him, got his attention and emptied the bucket of trail mix right there.

This mistake had a happy ending.  But there is always the potential for something worse- and the bear would always be the victim.

I talked to Sharon later about the incident and she helped me realize there were two ways to address this.  Worry about it or move on.  I took the latter, because I realized this was not the first mistake I have ever made handling animals and nor would this one likely be the last.

These bears and the wild bears at the WRI have taught me a lot this summer.  They taught me to have patience when working with animals.  They cannot be rushed from one place to another, especially if they find a nice raspberry bush.  They have taught me what is in-between a cute and cuddly bear versus a man-eating bear, which is a wild animal that is deserving of its own space and respect.  They also taught me numerous things about black bear behavior- vocalizations, body language, diet, etc.

Being a Cornell Fellow at the North American Bear Center has done so much more for me than what I originally expected.  Yes, I worked with bears.  Yes, I improved my public speaking skills.  Yes, I completed a research project on the folklore of bears.  But this seems so small overall.  I am immensely grateful for the time I spent at the NABC and if I were given the chance to return I would absolutely take it.

That being said, it was hard to say goodbye.  I said goodbye to the bears, but they probably didn’t realize what I was saying.  It is a comforting thought that if I ever return, they will remember me.  It was also difficult to say goodbye to everyone I worked with this summer, because who knows if I will ever be back in the area again.

I do hope to make a return trip to visit the bears during the first block break, so I can see them when they are fat for hibernation, fluffy with their new winter coats, and slow because they are in the fall transition for hibernation.

Other than that, I will end this blog the way I end my broadcasts at the bear center.  “Thank you all so much for coming out today.  I hope you have a great afternoon, and this is Kelly signing off.”