Hi Everyone,

This post is about the North American Bear Center in Ely, MN. The researchers there do valuable work with a small group of wild bears. These wild bears wear radio controlled collars (for tracking purposes) and the researchers have been collecting information and following these bears for years. They have web cams in a couple of dens. I love to watch them. One of the dens belongs to mother (Lily), yearling (Hope) and two 6 week (or so) cubs (Jason and Faith). Thousands of people all around the world are watching these bears and learning a lot from them. Many teachers have the web cam videos displayed in their classrooms and children are learning valuable information from them and basing many homework assignments around them. Other people, like myself, just love watching them.

The state of Minnesota, has so far refused to protect these radio collared bears from hunters. The researchers can put ribbons of brightly colored duct tape on the collars during hunting season so the bears can be easily identified. If even one bear is shot, it sets the program back years. You can't just run out and grab the nearest bear and put a collar on it and figure it's as valuable to the program as the last one. It takes years for the researchers to gain the trust of a bear, then to collect information over a period of time.

Researchers are asking that people who love the bears or who just want to help out in the cause of research write to key people in Minnesota, asking for protection for this small group of bears. A Facebook web page has also been created where people can sign a petition. It literally takes less then a minute to do so. Please help out.

Here are some links. I'll put the one for the petition at the bottom. If you want to get really involved, check them all out. But if you want to help and only have a moment, just click the bottom link and sign the petition.

The Bear Center website: http://www.bear.org/website/

Lily and Hope Den Camera:

http://www.bear.org/livecams/lily-hope-cam.html

A picture to show you all how the ribboned collars look and how easy they would be for hunters to see:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1246685968#!/photo.php?fbid=10150150587795499&set=a.309755305498.195614.263755115498&theater

A Youtube video showing mother (Lily), yearling (Hope) and two cubs (Jason and Faith) in the den - created just yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SGj-H_Uv0E

Lily the Black Bear Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/lily.the.black.bear

Here is a link that might be useful: Sign the petition to protect the Radio Collared bears here