It was another eventful day in the park, beginning with the grizzly at the carcass on the Blacktail and the wolf known as the Third Sister sneaking over the hill and waiting for the bear to leave.
The bear left this time but in a surprise move he went straight to the Third Sister and they did a little dance on a hillside far away.
The two animals circled one another and when the bear walked off the wolf approached the bear. They were doing a dance. The bear was telling the wolf to stay away from his food and the wolf told the bear too bad.
Eventually, the wolf made a mad dash towards food with the bear in hot pursuit.
The wolf makes it to the carcass, well ahead of the bear. It was kind of funny because she led him through a wet area where he got a little bogged down with his body weight and had to struggle, giving her a small advantage.
But her victory was short lived for that moment when the bear came charging in she took off like a shot.
But, the bear really was ready to go and so he snuck off away from the wolf and surrendered the carcass. The bear headed towards the road and suddenly big lenses were running behind me, followed by a lot of tourists with cell phones, and the bear never made it to his destination. He had to take a long detour and we lost him as a dot on a hill.
The wolf ate and then she, too, disappeared with a big belly. Besides coyotes, which were already quite fat with food, and the birds, the carcass lay undisturbed for the rest of the day and into dark.
I left the Blacktail and went for a drive. Drove all of the way to the south, along the lake on the north and the west side, and did not see a thing. Not even any people. It was a peaceful drive. Well, I should take that back, there were a lot of bison in Hayden and so a bison jam but it was brief.
Took my usual nap midway the drive back north and even though the day was later I did not see anything at all. 755 had been seen in Hayden, by himself but he was lost in the trees and no one saw him again. Apparently, Rick tried for signals on 712 but got none. No one knows what has become of the Canyon alphas for now. And, by the way, 21 wolves were spotted on Swan Lake Flats in the early morning, and the Junction Buttes have finally left their rendezvous area to do some travels. I did see part of the Prospect Peak Pack on North Butte this morning and they also looked fat with food.
The big horns are beginning to come down off of the high hills more and are being seen near the roads quite often so please be careful while driving through the park, for them and all of the other animals.
And now for more of the story on Rosie and the three cubs.
I love Rosie and her cubs, just as I do all of the other animals. But Rosie is special because she is a kind and tender mom and she has given the crowds so many thrills this year. I still remember the voices of the young kids as they exclaimed that they had not seen anything better, ever.
So, I really wish that all of you (and I don’t mean the people who follow this page) that want to follow Rosie and her three cubs into the forest for closeup shots without the protective rangers around, would just go home! I wish that all of you who want to crowd around her when she comes to the road would just go home. I wish that you would leave her alone and let her be a wild bear. Because she is paying the price of human selfishness. Rosie and her cubs get hazed because people don’t behave. How do you feel about that? And, what I see in Rosie’s eyes these days is confusion. She wants to get water but because people are crowded around her she is hazed back up into the forest. She needs her water and the people need to move out of her way. I will talk about this more later but just had to get that off of my chest for right now.
What I really wanted to tell you is that Rosie’s middle cub was struck by a car earlier this year and miraculously survived. But, the cub is blind in one eye. However, all of the cubs are quite healthy and I can’t wait until they once again have some peace and quiet.
The End of my tales for now. I have more.
So sad that the animals have to pay the price for the ignorance of humans.
People behaving badly…bears and other animals pay the price.
Yeah Dianna, I have a problem with that and wish there was a solution.
I think they should haze the people too. The t-shirt sounds like a great idea, as do the volunteers.
Gosh I didnt realize it was the cub that was hit. How do we know he is blind? Behaviors? I think the rangers should haze people not bears. Should get a t-shirt with that phrase. Seriously I do not care if people dislike me I intervene when they follow the animal. But then again, i dont live there. I still do not understand why they dont have volunteers to help. Truly when i approach folks here with my badge and a positive attitude they actually listen. They need volunteers! Better than making the animals pay for human ignorance.