Castle Creek Outfitters
Minnesota Black Bear and Whitetail Guide Service.
Solo escaped
execution but died in hibernation
Last
update: April 24, 2008 - 11:41 PM
DULUTH - Solo,
the one-eared black bear that slept under an Ely-area cabin last winter while
humans argued over what to do with her, has died at the Michigan bear ranch
where she and her cubs were shipped.
The bear, named
Solo by cabin owners after another bear bit off one of her ears, never emerged
from hibernation, said Dean Oswald, owner of Oswald's Bear Ranch near Newberry,
Mich.
"I couldn't
tell you why she didn't make it," Oswald said. "Sometimes their heart
just doesn't hold up to it."
Solo's two cubs,
which ranch workers named Cora and Caden, came out of hibernation and appear to
be fine, he said.
Last fall, the hibernating
Solo became the center of a controversy that pitted a group of bear-feeding
cabin owners and a local bear researcher against the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources.
The DNR argued
that she had become a nuisance to some Eagles Nest Lake residents and should be
killed because she'd lost her fear of humans. She and her cubs had hibernated
under a cabin, whose owner wanted them removed.
But residents who
liked having her around objected to the DNR's plans, and a group took up her
cause. Finally, Gov. Tim Pawlenty issued a "reprieve," and wildlife
managers arranged for the three bears to be shipped to the Michigan ranch.
There, the cubs
and their mother were placed in separate enclosures and all three went back
into hibernation. Oswald found Solo dead in early April in a pile of stumps
where she had made her den.
Mike DonCarlos,
the DNR's wildlife research and policy manager, said "it's not unheard
of" for bears to die during hibernation. Oswald said that out of almost 50
bears that have lived on his ranch in the past 25 years, "a few" have
died while hibernating.
Larry Oakes •
218-727-7344