By now some of you may be wondering how the whole Protect Minnesota's Black Bears campaign got started. Actually, the credit, or should I say blame, should go to an insensitive, uncaring, uneducated (on this matter) person, who started a Facebook page with the title "Lily, A Bear with a Bounty". I first heard about it while I was watching a preview for the Monday Evening News on WCCO, in a piece by John Lauritsen. It appears Lauritsen smelled a good story line, but was not really interested in the bears or Dr. Rogers, because as far as I know, he never contacted the owner of the page, even after I provided him with the man's phone number and address. He never contacted me either, although I left him several e-mails and phone messages. I have to wonder how you can do a comprehensive report on a subject, when you have not contacted the two people most involved in the topic.

Coincidentally, I happened to watch the Legislature proceedings on Channel 2, during which Rep. Phyllis Kahn was proposing legislation to protect the bears from hunting. I immediately logged on to Facebook, found the Bounty page, and proceeded engage in e-mail conversations with two of the most frequent posters on the page. Eventually one of them gave me the phone number and e-mil address of the person who started the page, but not his name. I then sent him a series of questions about why he created the page, and whether or not he thought it was right to put a bounty on Lily the black bear. He promised to answer my questions - after he had been contacted by Lauritsen.

Since Lauritsen never contacted him, and he never answered my questions, I presume that the only reason he said he would answer them after he spoke to Lauritsen, was so that he could get his name mentioned on the TV segment about it on Monday night. In a later exchange I mentioned that the number of hits on his page had gone up, as a result of the number of people who know about it, and disliked what he was doing. He said he was glad the numbers had gone up, and asked me how I felt about being used by him, to get more hits on his page. I told him it felt great, because it made me aware of a problem that I could become involved in. Then I asked him how it felt to have someone come on his page, and completely take it over, with people who did not agree with his idea of a bounty on the bears. He said, "Well it was all a joke anyhow."

That might be true, and if it was true, it shows the juvenile attitude of a person who was would suggest that there should be a bounty put out on a bear and her cubs, who had been watched by thousands of adults around the world, and hundreds of school children here in the United States, who were learning about the bears, their habits and their habitat, and wildlife management and conservation, in some of their classes at school. But, I suspect it was also a way (or maybe the only reason) of distancing himself, from what he now realized, was a bad idea. One that made him look small in the eyes of many people.

What his page on Facebook did do, was result in my creating a new page entitled, "Protect Minnesota's Research Bears. Instead of receiving 33 hits in several days (many by people who did not like the idea of a bounty on Lily), the Protect page received over 700 hits in 24 hours - all of them by people who wanted to find a way to protect Dr. Rogers research bears from being killed by hunters.

That person also woke up a sleeping bear – a group of people who were willing, not only to say they wanted the bears protected, but who were actually willing to do something about it; such as sending e-mails to the commissioners overseeing the legislative bill to protect the bears, and to their own state representatives and senators, to DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr and Governor Mark Dayton.

In addition, one person is thinking about putting p a reward if none of the research bears are killed; with every person who holds a bear permit entered into a lottery to win the reward. But, only if none of the research bears are shot. Another person, a schoolteacher who is studying the bears along with her students, is going to contact all of the school superintendents across the state, and try to get them to endorse the campaign to protect the bears from hunting. Other people are trying to get the support of famous Minnesota Outdoorsmen, and movie stars such as Jennifer Aniston and Tom Selleck. I've already sent a message to Jane Goodall, asking for her support in this cause.

The collective belief of the group of people who have joined the "Protect Minnesota's Research Bears" campaign, is that the battle to protect the bears from hunting, is not over yet; because they have only begun to fight. Both Dr. Rogers and I would like to thank them for their support - and their efforts.

To join the campaign, log on to the "Protect Minnesota's Research Bears" page on Faceook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Minnesotas-Research-Bears/160331730697185?ref=ts

A festival and picnic to honor the efforts and research of the people involved in the North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Center, and the bears themselves, will be held July 22-24, in Ely, Minnesota. For tickets, lodging availability and other information log on to the Lilypad Picnic 2100 page at http://www.lilypadpicnic.com/index.html. There will be opportunities to tour the center, and take pictures of some of the bears, as well as other fun events.