Dot is Killed – UPDATE September 13, 2013
Dot – March 22, 2012Dot – March 22, 2012 At the Bear Center
today, 2 hunters told staff that they would never, under any circumstances, shoot a female bear. Later today, we learned once again that not all hunters feel that way.
Two female bears wearing radio-collars bedecked with gaudy ribbons have been shot this year. First Aster was shot and injured on September 5. Then this afternoon, 13-year-old Dot, a favorite of many, was killed. We don’t know the details and hope to learn more. In late afternoon, her GPS locations showed her signal moved quickly from the forest to the town of Ely. We drove to Ely and located the radio-collar in the conservation officer’s truck awaiting delivery to the DNR office in Tower and eventual return to us. Lynn knocked on his door and learned that Dot was killed “in a hunting situation.”
The Research Associates who spent hundreds of hours following her life the last 12 years are feeling deep grief this evening. No one knew Dot better or was more devoted to her well being and learning about her life then they were. Dot was radio-tracked longer than any other bear in the study, beginning with her life in the den with her radio-collared mother Blackheart. Dot got her own collar when she became a yearling. There are many stories to tell about Dot’s relatively long life. Although black bears can live into their 30’s, the average age of females in the kill is 3. Dot and her sister Donna far exceeded that. Donna is still alive but is not radio-collared due to the latest DNR restrictions. Dot had a great, gentle personality and was a favorite of many who got to see her in the course of her 13 years.
One of the BFF Teams “Meet the Bears” articles does an excellent job of summarizing Dot’s life http://www.facebook.com/notes/bffbetty/meet-dot-2013/357565604374265.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Exposing the Big Game 
Crying …
There needs to be a massive fine for killing any animal with a gps collar, it is the only way to stop the slaughter! I took off into the woods for an hour trying to walk off my anger, frustration and sadness. My husband knows I am upset so he is making me a homemade gluten free, organic pizza. That is my comfort food! With local farmer’s goat cheese and black olives. 🙂 We have lots of tomatos in the garden, too.
All organic, non-gmo, heirloom tomatoes. Sometimes we just go down there and munch on a field salad. 🙂 This year has been a good garden year and the peaches will be ready soon, too! While there is nothing that I can to bring Dot back, what I can do is remember her well and work to stop bear hunting. Most especially research bears, wolves and other collared animals. I would invite you all over for pizza to celebrate Dot’s life and not focus on her bad end, at least tonight. The pizza will be done in 45 min. So if you live in SW Maine, come over for a bite. It is a beautiful evening!
These animal serial killers should receive a death sentence.
Thank you for posting this, Jim. I’m a huge supporter of WRI and NABC. It’s because of Lynn and Sue’s work that I became a bear advocate, and subsequently an advocate for wildlife in general. All of us who follow the work of Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield are in mourning right now over the murder of Dot. Many of us believe she was targeted, because of a lawsuit WRI launched against the MN DNR this past July after the DNR yanked their research permit for totally bogus reasons. They’ve been trying to shut down Lynn and Sue’s research for a long time, and had to make up out-and-out lies in their attempt to bring down WRI. There’s going to be an administrative review taking place next February to get to the bottom of things. In the meantime, WRI is still conducting research by way of a court order issued in response to the WRI lawsuit. NABC is not affected by all this, as their permit is issued by the USDA.
I did not know it was a plot against your research that got her murdered. Will those wretched officials stop at nothing? Poor Dot! And poor little kids and kind people in the bear community! Do they know who killed her? Poor, poor innocent bear! Some people have no soul!
That is why we should not every “believe hunters,” –ever.
Correction: That is why we should never, ever believe a hunter–
Rod Serling had it so right when he wrote Planet Of The Apes “Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil’s pawn. Alone among God’s primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother’s land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death. “
Truer words were never spoken–by an ape, no less.