In May a black bear everyone calls Rosie appeared with 3 brand new tiny cubs. At first the cubs just followed her around but very quickly they were playing with each other, climbing trees and having a grand time.
While her cubs played Rosie ate. If you watched her eating grass for a while you might have thought she wasn’t paying attention to her cubs, but I guarantee you she was. If she gave the signal, invisible to me, those cubs were up a tree in no time flat and stayed there until Rosie said it was OK to come down. She is almost always very calm, but she is a great mom.
In June she was hazed by the park rangers so many times that she finally went over the Yellowstone River and was seen around the Yellowstone Picnic Area. Those of us who had met her and her family had fallen in love with her and were really worried about her in an unknown territory with 3 growing cubs.
Finally in late September she came back to her old stompin’ grounds between Rainy Lake and Calcite Springs. It was almost like she hadn’t left except for a couple of things. The cubs were much larger and fatter.
They appeared to be ready to spend the winter in their den. They were also more disciplined. The second Rosie gave the signal they were up a tree, no questions asked. I guess that is one of the reasons all three have survived
I hope they have an uneventful winter and that we all get to see them next spring.
Our photos are available at www.vernelehmberg.com.
What a wonderful story…Thank you…her little ones are just adorable..she is a good mama
Thank you so much Anita! She is a good mama. I intend to think good thoughts about her this winter and will look for her and her babies next spring.
Me too Judy, I hope that they have a quiet winter. Looks like they might have gone on to bed now. Hope so because they came back to more hazing for no apparent good reason.
There was a reason for their hazing: rangers that would rather haze them for no reason so they don’t have to manage the crowds they attract. I guess I am being cynical but I see no other reason to haze such a sweet, unaggressive bear. Ww will hope everyone does better next year.