Hi everyone,
Tom posted the update below over in the comments section on the Webcam page on December 19. It's long buried under more recent posts by now, so we wanted to post it here in case anyone missed it.
- Karen
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So!!! You are waiting
for a reply from Tom???? Well, I try to
provide what our Smokey community asks for.
Sorry it has taken me so long to answer your comments
regarding the T-Shirts and sweatshirts, but I had to go down to the Southern
California for some meetings early this week.
YES! We have
thought about a T-shirt. We even went so
far as to pick out some pictures, but then, we wondered if we should "commercialize" this amazing little bear.
But, I can tell from all of your wonderful comments that something which
would serve as a memory of our Li’l Smokey would mean a lot to you all. We do have our own Graphic Artist, as you can
tell by the T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, Polo Shirts, etc. on our store. The people we work with are with Digital Concepts. Since your interest is so high, we will post
some of our ideas and we will accept your thoughts and ideas as to which design
would be best. But, we are going to have
to do this after the New Year.
Now, on to some of your questions and comments.
Vicki E from Tucson.
Thank you for your Christmas present.
Yes, we did receive it.
Lela – Yes. We
received your little "bear" gift. It is
beautiful. Thank you.
Lencho – Temps in deep winter in Tahoe? They very -- GREATLY! Cheryl and I have lived in Tahoe for 33 years
(next month) and we have seen temps in January and February as LOW as -33
degrees (that is 33 degrees BELOW ZERO) and as warm as 35 ABOVE ZERO! That is almost a 70 degree difference. Obviously, not in the same year, BUT in the
same location. We just have to wait and
see!
Will we start feeding Smokey if he doesn’t den soon? No. He
had his last supper on Monday, December 8, along with the other
six cubs. None of them will eat again
until they wake up in the spring. And,
by the way -- the other six cubs are still active as well. Not as much as they were a month ago, but,
active, nonetheless. Now that we have
snow (between 18 and 24 inches this week at lake level so far), and cold
temps (about 4 degrees above zero yesterday), that should be enough to kick
their system into gear to begin their denning.
The wild bears locally are doing exactly the same thing, just now starting their denning. We expect
our bears to follow the same pattern.
Will we be drugging him to transport him to his release
site? Actually, that is more a question
for Fish and Game, but, in order to get him into a cage, that answer is "Yes." I would assume that they will
give him a sedative about the time that he is placed in his den at the release
site. There is an electronic tracking
device which has been ordered and will be fitted on him so he can be
tracked. For how long? I don’t know. That information will be passed along to us the day of his release. As far as I know, F & G is still looking
at the same time-frame we have been telling you –- late January or early
February. It all depends on when they
can get their crew together.
When he is released, will I give him a big "bear hug"? That is a good question. I am sure that I will want to -- but will I? Stay tuned for that. I definitely will be taking along at least my
digital camera to document the release and possibly taking along a separate
video camera. That day will be
very special, to say the least.
By the way. It took
me two days to read up on all of your comments since I left Monday around
noon. You guys sure to like to keep
things hopping, don’t you? We certainly
appreciate all of the positive comments and commentary. Once again, I am sorry that I took as long as
I did to get back to you. Everything
else with Smokey is doing very well. As
you all have seen, he is using the igloo again, pulling the straw up into the
doorway to simulate a cave.
As you can see, we're still experiencing technical difficulties with the web cam. I heard from Denise earlier today, and she let me know that Smokey is still wrapped up tight in his igloo, so we're not missing much action right now.
While we're waiting, I thought some of you may enjoy visiting the video page on our website. This page has three short videos:
1. The first video is an update we did when Smokey first arrived at LTWC (when he was still very "li'l"). We all know that Smokey has made an amazing recovery, but this video really demonstrates how far he has come in just five months!
2. The second video is a wonderful story that Sacramento's ABC 10 did on LTWC last summer, a couple of weeks before Smokey arrived. This video shows a lot of the wildlife we had at LTWC at the time, including the other bear cubs we've had this year.
3. The last video, also from early last summer, shows the successful "surrogate release" of a young, orphaned merganser chick with an adult female who was willing to take the chick under her wing.
Also, to those of you who requested a Smokey photo gallery, we're working on it, but it will be a few days before it's ready.
In the meantime, thanks for your patience while we work on the web cam!
Karen
LTWC Webmaster