Agee....The One and Only...

Agee & Mark Dumas

Photos:
Laurentiu Garafeanu/Barcroft

Das ist Agee. Sie macht gerade wieder Furore durch einen Artikel in der Sun bzw. der Daily Mail, wo es eine Reihe von bemerkenswerten Fotos mit ihrem Trainer und Ziehvater Mark Dumas gibt. Agee ist der absolute Star unter den Tieren, die für die Filmindustrie und Werbung arbeiten. Auch hier hat sie bereits den ein oder anderen Kurzauftritt gehabt, immer mit der Absicht, dass ein längerer Artikel folgen sollte, doch die Materialsuche erwies sich als so umfangreich, dass ich statt etwas zu posten auf 10 (!) verschiedenen Artikelentwürfen im letzten Jahr sitzengeblieben bin...-

This is Agee, the one and only...She has just caused once again another public stir by the remarkable photos published a few days ago in the Sun and the Daily Mail, where she can be admired together with her coach and mentor Mark Dumas. Agee is the absolute star when it comes to animals working for the film and advertising industry. Here in the K-files she has already had one or two brief appearances too, always posted with the intention of posting a longer article about her and her background, but the material which came up during the time proved to be so extensive that it left me with a variety of 10 (!) different article drafts last year...-


Die neuen Fotos, und auch die Kommentare, die ich gestern jeweils zu den Artikeln gelesen habe, spornen mich nun an, endlich aufzuräumen und Agee ausführlich vorzustellen.Und da dies nicht in einem Rutsch geht, wird es eine Serie, wohlwissend, dass dies auch ein heikles Unterfangen ist, denn eigentlich gehört ein Eisbär nicht vor die Kamera, es sei denn, dass es sich um Wildlife Aufnahmen handelt.-

The recent photos, especially in connection with some comments I have come to read yesterday, are motivating and inspiring me now to eventually clean up my archives and to present Agee more in detail. And as this is not possible in one go, it will be a series, well knowing that this is also a delicate endeavor, as polar bears do actually not belong in front of a camera, except when it concerns wildlife documentaries.-


Mir ist es dennoch wichtig, Agee Platz einzuräumen, da sie eine wirklich außergewöhnliche Bärin ist, die auf ihre Art und so wie sie von Mark Dumas und seiner Frau Diane geführt wird, zweifelsohne in all den Jahren paradoxerweise auch einen wichtigen Beitrag geleistet hat, was Lebensweise und Habitat ihrer Artgenossen in der Arktis angeht. Auch Agee hat Neugier, Interesse und Liebe für Eisbären geweckt...und den Willen sie zu schützen.-

To me it is important to credit Agee a little more space because she is a truly exceptional bear, in her own way and as led by Mark Dumas and his wife Diane, she has without any doubt in all these years, paradoxically, also made a major contribution concerning polar bears as endangered species, the conditions of life and habitat of polar bears in the Arctic. She has raised curiosity, interest and love for polar bears... and the wish to protect them.-



To be continued...

Some already posted ice-breakers with Agee here...:
- You dream of bears and you see bears everywhere?/ad-clip
- "Yer Not The Ocean..."/ music clip

The article mentioned & more photos here:
- Don't worry, it just means he loves me: Polar bear trainer's jaw-dropping photos/Daily Mail 30.06.2011 (the original article is in the Sun and there are lots of blogs including the same material)

Agee..."Yer Not The Ocean"

Agee & The Tragically Hip...

-A little treat for Marga with thanks to Diane...-





Achtung:
Für alle, die in ihrem Land Probleme haben, das Video über YouTube zu sehen, hier ein Link , der zumindest in Deutschland funktioniert bei MySpace...-

Note:
Should you have problems to watch the video posted here or via YouTube, please find here the link on MySpace. Ad I have just learned, in Germany the clip can't be accessed via YouTube.
Thanks a lot for the info, Dumba, and for sending the link!

Related:
-You dream of bears and you see bears everywhere?/18.06.2009

More to Agee in due time....

Lily & Hope...Kritische Tage....

Eigentlich wollte ich jetzt ganz was anderes machen, aber da einige mit den englischen Updates vielleicht Probleme haben, die man per click auf das Wall-Foto nachlesen kann, schnell ein paar Fotos der letzten Woche und ein kurzes Update auf Deutsch. -

Here a little summary of the last events of Lily & Hope in German, in English you will find detailed updates on Facebook when you click the pic of Hope on the right wall...Das sind Lily und Hope am 30.Mai nach ihrer Trennung über die wir hier ja auch ausführlich berichtet haben. Die ersten Eindrücke stimmten hoffnungsfroh, es sah aus,als hätte Hope die Trennung auch physisch gut überstanden.
Doch nur 2 Tage später zeigte sie sich schwach und lethargisch, und dann passierte etwas, womit wohl niemand wirklich gerechnet hat, Lily ließ Hope auf einem Baum sitzen, während sie, offenbar durch eine andere Bärin aufgescheucht (möglicherweise ihre eigene Mutter June), erstmal das Weite suchte. Am nächsten Morgen war Hope nicht mehr auf dem Baum und eine erneute Suche startete, diesmal unter erschwerten Bedingungen, es war wesentlich kühler als während der ersten Trennung und es hatte viel geregnet.

Spezialnahrung wurde an Bäumen hinterlassen, die zu Lilys und Hopes Stammplätzen gehören. Und in der Tat, gestern wurde Hope gesichtet, wie sie sich ihre Nahrung abholte.

Ein vergleichendes Foto, das auf Facebook gepostet wurde, zeigt, dass Hope trotz dieser erneuten Wendung, immer noch verhältnismaessig kräftig ist.

Hope nach 5 tägiger Trennung am 30.Mai/links und Hope gestern/rechts und unten

Lily ist mittlerweile ebenfalls gesichtet worden, sie soll keine Mich mehr haben und scheint überaus beschäftigt, das Areal, in dem sie sich befindet zu erkunden , mit welchem Ziel auch immer.

Ziel des Forschungsprojekts ist es, zu vermeiden, dass Hope in eine Bärenaufzuchtstation kommt. Man will sie weiterhin mit Zusatznahrung über Futterstationen unterstützen, bis genügend Beeren, Nüsse etc. verfügbar sind, sodass sie sich selbst verpflegen kann. Lynn Rogers und Sue Mansfield, die das Projekt leiten, sind überzeugt davon, dass Hope so wesentlich mehr zu Erkenntnissen über das Verhalten von Schwarzbären beiträgt ; trotz ihres hohen Bekanntheitsgrads war es immer das Ziel, Lily und Hope in ihrer natürlichen Umgebung zu belassen und zu beobachten.Dieser Ansatz wird nicht von allen gutgeheißen, wie z.B.ein Artikel von gestern belegt, kritisiert wird die starke Mediatisierung sowie die Nähe von Menschen in diesem Prozess der Erkenntnisgewinnung und Lernerfahrung.

Und hier Hope - 5.Juni 2010 - nicht nur ihre Ohren scheinen über Nacht gewachsen zu sein...Halten wir ihr weiterhin die Daumen!!!


Related postings:
- Hope for Hope/26.05.2010
=Hope has been found & Hope & Lily Reunited/ 27.05.2010
- Hope & Lily Reunited...The Details/28.05.2010

Here a controversial article of Chris Niskanen about the research on Lily & Hope: "Bear necessities or media overkill? How much celebrity attention does one bear cub deserve?" (TwinCities.com/04.06.2010)

Lily & Hope - Reunited...The Details!

Lily nursing Hope after five days of seperation...

Heute gab es einen detaillierten Bericht über den gestrigen Tag, er ist so spannend, dass ich ihn hier auch fast ganz poste...Das Herz blieb mir stehen, als ich las, dass Hope es tatsächlich geschafft hat, noch einmal abzuhauen, nachdem sie bereits hübsch eingesammelt im Transportkäfig saß....

"Still Glowing"

All is well. We feel very good about all that happened yesterday. There are those who say we should not have intervened. But we think we answered bigger scientific questions by getting the facts. One question was whether the cub was sick and if Lily intentionally abandoned it because she knew something we didn’t. By catching the cub we could see it was a very vigorous cub even after 5 days. And after witnessing Lily’s wholehearted acceptance of Hope it’s difficult to believe she meant to abandon her. It also shows wildlife managers that cubs that have been away from their mother for 5 days can be returned. Some suggest that mother’s will abandon single cubs so they can mate and produce 3 cubs the next winter. While that might sound good by the numbers it didn’t sound good to Lily. It also showed that mothers whose breasts have turned hard and lumpy can still nurse.

Hope after 5 days on her own - May 26, 2010

What led to the reunion?

In part, it was persistence by a caring community. While we were searching the area where Hope was last seen, community members were searching more widely. The decision Mike and Ellen Kochevar made to search ‘one more time’ before they left town for a few days proved fateful. They spotted Hope on the side of the road in the area Lily and Hope had been just before moving around the lake—a full 2 miles away from where she had been seen on Tuesday! She ran when she saw them, but they were able to tree her and give us a call. We geared up and hurried to the scene. Two more calls came as we were on the way. “She’s coming down. What do we do?” “Do whatever it takes to keep her up there!” was the answer. “She’s weak and I don’t think she can hold onto the tree much longer!” “If she comes down, grab her by the scruff and don’t let go. We’re almost there!”

At first, it seemed unbelievable that this 4-month old cub could navigate the 2 miles back ‘home’ in her nutritionally stressed state. But as soon as we saw that unmistakable light face we knew it was Hope. She looked exhausted and we thought maybe she was weakened from hunger. Sue dipped a 5-foot long stick into sweetened condensed milk and extended it to the cub. Hope licked it and grabbed it with a paw. We lured her down within reach...(Photo:Colin Austin/Duluth News Tribune)
Hope hand-grabbed... (Photo: Colin Austin/Duluth News Tribune)

When Lynn grabbed her she dispelled all notions that she was weak or sick! Spunky Hope fought like a demon—screaming at the top of her lungs. She bloodied both of us as we worked to get into the pet carrier. Inside the carrier she didn’t let up. She was a scared slapping spitfire!

We emptied an entire bottle of electrolyte supplement into the carrier and Hope interrupted her defensive displays to lap it up. We gave her spoonfuls of sweetened condensed milk, which she eagerly licked. We finally slipped the entire dish into the carrier. She quieted down but was quick to slap and blow in her nervousness.

The famous pet carrier... (Photo: Colin Austin/Duluth News Tribune)

We put the pet carrier in the van and drove to radio-locate Lily a mile away. We found Lily about 0.1 miles off a road. We wondered if Hope’s cries would bring Lily to the rescue. Instead, Lily fled a half mile away! We tracked her down to the area where they had bedded at a white pine for a couple weeks after leaving their den. Lily wasn’t coming out to us so we decided to take Hope in to Lily. This is when our roller-coaster of emotion took a down-turn. Just as we were entering the forest, Hope’s frantic attempts to find a way out of the carrier were rewarded. The door popped open and Hope escaped!

She paused just long enough to look back at us, and then vanished into the forest. We were speechless. What now? Would Hope recognize this area she had spent so much time in as a wee little cub? Would she remember the white pine that was her security?

Lynn homed in on Lily’s signal and tried something new. At this critical time, could he get Lily to follow him for the good nuts that her fans had sent? The nuts worked. An hour later, as Lynn and Lily were approaching the white pine, Sue rejoined them and said in a hushed voice “There’s Hope.” She had appeared as quickly and silently as she had disappeared earlier.

As soon as Lily noticed Hope she ignored us and the nuts. At 30 feet apart, both bears seemed unsure. Hope moved. Lily seemed scared and started up a tree. Then she moved cautiously forward and so did Hope. Less than 10 feet apart and recognition was certain. They quickly came closer and showed what Lynn said was “the most beautiful display of animal emotion” he has ever seen.

Hope cried and tried to get as close to Lily as possible. Lily responded with her sweet motherly grunts—showing her acceptance and more. Hope tried to nurse while Lily half-dragged her toward the white pine where they had nursed so many times in April. Lily lay down and Hope eagerly nursed for the first time in at least 122 hours. We caught a little video of this touching scene and then slipped away.

We checked on them today and everything seemed back to normal with them playing and nursing. We will never take such simple family scenes for granted again! (...)

Bears face many challenges. 82% of the deaths documented in our 44 years of study have been from humans (shooting, trapping, vehicles, trains, electrocution, etc.). We’re glad in the case of Lily and Hope we could do something to help and obtain useful scientific information in the process.

Once again we’re overwhelmed by the generosity Lily and Hope fans have shown. We are shaking our head in disbelief at the thermometer level. Wow! Thank you so much! Your contributions will go a long way to furthering our educational efforts.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center

Read full report here: Lily the Black Bear
Photo credits: North American Bear Center, Clint Austin/Duluth News Tribune

Hope & Lily - Reunited !!!

Hier ist der Bericht von Lynn Rogers über die Zusammenführung von Hope und Lily.Nach mehr als 5 Tagen der Trennung sind sie nun endlich wieder vereint und was mich daran besonders berührt ist, dass es tatsächlich möglich war die kleine Bärin überhaupt lebend zu finden und sie dann auch wieder mit der Mutter zusammenzubringen...Ich gestehe, ich bin hin und weg...

"Reunited at last! "

It was the most satisfying moment of my 44 years of bear study. When Sue and I got the cub into the little carrier kennel and I saw Sue crying, I could hardly keep from breaking down myself. And then seeing Lily and Hope’s reunion was the most beautiful expression of animal emotion I have ever seen. Hope was bawling very loudly, and Lily was doing her pleasant grunts as Hope latched onto a nipple and Lily half dragged her nearer to the white pine where they had nursed together so many times in April. Sue is readying video she took of the reunion. It’s late, and we were up half the night last night, so we’ll fill in details tomorrow. Thank you all so much for pulling together with us as we all went through this emotional roller coaster. The roller coaster effect continued right up to the unexpectedly wonderful end. More on that tomorrow. While we were in the woods attempting to reunite Lily and Hope we got a call from a homeowner who had a visit from Juliet. More about that tomorrow too! Thank you for the tremendous outpouring of support today. We can’t wait to meet many of you all at the Lilypad Picnic in a couple months.

—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, North American Bear Center

Find here the video of Lily and Hope's reunification

What a wonderful outcome....thanks to the efforts of Sue and Lynn who should be in for a good night's sleep, instead they continue to do their very best to keep us all informed...

Video credits: North American Bear Center
On this site you find more videos about Lily and Hope, also about the days of the search.

Meet Kumo, the Kung Fu Bear...

Eigentlich wollte ich noch etwas warten mit diesem Video, aber wenn ich es mir so recht überlege, ist es vielleicht doch gerade der passende Moment nach dem Hope-Posting. Bären hören nie auf, mich zu überraschen, und etwas davon geht ein in die Hoffnung, dass Hope doch noch gefunden wird...Aber nun zu ihm.Kumo, was im Deutschen soviel bedeutet wie Wolke, er wohnt im japanischen Hiroshima Asa Zoo und ist bereits dort seit Jahren eine wirkliche Berühmtheit...-

Bears never cease to amaze me - ever heard of a Kung Fu bear?!? Originally I wanted to wait with this posting but thinking it over, maybe today is just the right day for it after the Hope posting. I still hope that with Hope we will also be in for a surprise, she is said to be sassy and vigourous, maybe that will help her. Anyway, here comes another bear celebrity...Meet Kumo doing tricks with sticks...

"A bear in a Japanese zoo has become an online sensation with his 'kung fu" skills.

Kumo, an Asian black bear, has been thrilling crowds at Hiroshima Asa Zoo for more than four years by twirling a stick like an expert martial artist.

But the animal's talents have now been discovered by English-speaking internet users - with a video of the bear set to 1970s pop song "Kung Fu Fighting" suddenly shooting up the viral charts after first being posted last year.

Kumo — the name means "Cloud" in English — even throws the stick into the air before catching it and continuing with the dexterous display.

The videos have been viewed on YouTube over 500,000 times.

Hiroshima Asa Zoo senior curator Haruo Otsu told ninemsn Kumo's skills were self-taught.

"It's very important to provide animals with a good environment so we give Kumo a lot of twigs, tree leaves and logs to play with," Mr Otsu said.

"He is very famous here and has been on the television and in some magazines."

Mr Otsu said Kumo seemed to appreciate the attention from visitors who came to watch his twirling skills.

A look through online archives proves Cloud's trick is no fluke, with video posted in 2008 showing the animal twirling a baseball bat in similar fashion.

The bat was reportedly a gift from the area's local baseball team, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp."

And now, just enjoy the video...!



Thanks to Betty who made me aware of that funny guy...Really, it was just the right moment...!!! Article source & photo credits: here, another article about Kumo can be found here

Hope for Hope, the little black bear cub...

"Missing bear cub Hope may be alive

The black bear cub made famous last winter when a video camera recorded its birth near Ely and that went missing over the weekend may have been spotted alive Monday afternoon by the public.

Hope, the cub of Lily that was followed by millions of people through a camera set up by bear researchers Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield in Ely, has been missing since Friday, Rogers said.

But a homeowner just a few hundred yards from a tree where Hope was last seen reported seeing a small, lone cub in her yard Monday afternoon. The cub ran into the woods when approached.

“We think it’s her, but we don’t know yet,” Rogers said via his cell phone from the woods near Ely.

Rogers and others were nearing the spot Tuesday afternoon, hoping to find Hope hiding in a white pine. The search is west of Ely in Eagles Nest Township along a county road. One side is dense swamp and forest, Rogers said, while there are cabins on the other.

“There’s no reason to believe there would be another cub alone out here,” Rogers said. “If we find it, we’ll try to lure her down (from a tree) with some condensed milk and see if we can’t get her back with Lily.”

Lily looking for Hope/23.05.2010

Meanwhile Tuesday, Lily the mother bear was nearly three miles away, having given up her search for her cub on Sunday and moved along on her way.

Hope hadn’t been seen since Friday, when she and Lily climbed a red pine to rest after a two-mile walk, Rogers said. Later Friday evening, Lily wandered more than two miles away, possibly chasing or being chased by a rival adult bear. By the time she returned Sunday, 50 hours later, Hope was gone from the tree and rain had erased any scent.

Lily trying to trace Hope by sniffing trees/23.05.2010

“We don’t know what happened — Lily spent the spring in very small areas, maybe 50 to 100 yards in diameter. It was hard to believe she was getting enough food — she finally left, we think to find better food, and took Hope two miles away,” Rogers said. “The last time Sue saw Lily and Hope together, about 6 p.m. Friday, they were both up a tree sleeping after the long walk.”

It took Lily until Sunday to get back to the red pine where she left Hope. But Hope was not in the area.

Here Hope at 2 months

At nearly 4 months old, Hope is just beginning to eat food from the field, but the bear could not be expected to survive for long on its own, Rogers said.

At this time of year, the cub’s best bet of nutrition in the wild probably would be ant pupae, Rogers said. But he noted that a young cub could not be expected to roll over logs or expose sheltered ant nests.

Lily is fitted with a collar that holds a GPS tracking unit so researchers can track and find her at any time. The cub, however, is too small to carry a collar.

Rogers, staff from the North American Bear Center and volunteers searched, as did Lily. But there had been no sign of Hope in the area. Rogers had all but resigned himself that the cub had perished.

That was until Tuesday afternoon.

Rogers said he left a pan of food in the area where the lone cub was sighted Tuesday and trained a trailcam on the meal-in-the-waiting.

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Rogers had not had any luck catching up to the missing cub, but he was expecting reinforcements. He said the St. Louis County Rescue Squad was on the way with a heat-sensing device that he hoped might reveal the young bear’s likely sleeping place in the tree canopy of the area.

Hope was born on Jan. 22 and left the den with Lily in late March after being watched for weeks by millions of people on the live Webcam placed in their meager den. It’s believed to be a first for a wild black bear birth in a den. Mansfield has continued to video the sow and cub since then, and she and Rogers often meet up with and spend time with the bears in the woods.

The videos and reports can be seen at www.bear.org.

Again Hope when she was 2 months old

Cathy Williamson of Brook, Ind., who last winter won a contest sponsored by Cub Foods to name Lily’s bear cub, echoed hundreds of messages left on Lily’s Facebook page this week.

“No matter what the outcome, little Hope will always be my shining star as well as many others’ shining star,” Williamson told the News Tribune. “She has done things for people better than any doctor could ever have done.”

Sounds familiar, doesn't it...?!So, whereever Hope might be at the moment, I just hope for her to be found safe and sound and to be reunited with her mother Lily. To be honest, the photos of Lily while she was looking for Hope got under my skin...

Hope gone missing has fuelled lots of emotions and triggered some discussions about how and if to intervene or letting nature its course. Here an article raising some of these questions.

Please find more about Lily and Hope on Lily's Facebook Fanpage with lots of additional links to videos and information, facts and research infos about black bears and Lily & Hope can also be found on the website of the North American Bear Research Center.

-Article source: Duluth News Tribune/by John Myers 26.05.2010
-Related article: Star Tribune/25.05.2010
-Photo credits: North American Bear Research Center

Happy Thanksgiving 2009....

As usual Brutus didn't come around to Knut's Outpost for celebrating Thanksgiving....we will not give up, maybe next year...))

Hope everyone out there in the US has been enjoying so far a wonderful Thanksgiving with dearest friends and family ...

Here you can find more to Brutus ...

You dream of bears and you see bears everywhere?

Don't worry, it might be Agee...



So, just relax before you take important decisions...

More about Agee in a few days...

By the way, it is one of my favourite videoclips ....So, enjoy!

And- Happy Birthday, Dirk & Nene & Thorsten from rbb Knut blog, it's your turn today...Wishing you lots of beary moments...!