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Internet helps Ely bear center get $100,000 grantJul 15, 2010 (Duluth News Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Ely-based North American Bear Center earned enough support online to win a $100,000 grant from a charitable foundation. The bear center, which won a huge Internet following over the winter with its live coverage of a mother bear named Lily and her cub in their den, will use the money for educational programs about bears, said Lynn Rogers, biologist for the center. The bear center won the grant by placing among the top five online vote-winners in a competition sponsored by Chase Community Giving, a philanthropic arm of the gigantic JPMorgan Chase bank. To qualify, the charities had to have annual operating expenses of $1 million or less. If the bear center had finished on top, it would have received $250,000. That honor went to a Somerville, Mass., charity that uses popular culture to inspire young people to become civically involved. More than 2.5 million people participated in voting from among 500,000 small charities, according to a news release from Chase Community Giving. In all, the foundation awarded $5 million in grants. Meanwhile, Lily and her cub, Hope, continue to stick close together after they were reunited on Sunday. "They seem to be bonding better all the time," Rogers said Wednesday. "When Hope yelled in distress, Lily came running, grunting her concern. Hope is sticking with Lily like glue." Mother and cub first separated in May, then were reunited with a little help from Rogers and fellow researcher Sue Mansfield. But they soon parted again. The researchers then decided to let nature take its course, although they continued to monitor the bears. Now that they're together again, mother and cub seem determined to keep it that way. Hope even abandoned some food that the researchers had put out to follow her mother. And Hope, apparently feeling secure with her mother nearby, slept on the ground rather than climbing in a tree to sleep as she did on her own. "We're thinking maybe Hope has learned a lesson," Rogers said. To see more of the Duluth News Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, Duluth News Tribune, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544). |