He sniffed, explored, rustled in the grass. He had a glorious time. Then it happened . . .
Huckleberry Bear Bear wanted a nap.
Huckleberry Bear Bear found a cozy hole between two big rocks all hidden in some bushes. It was so inviting. Just right. He settled in.
He made himself comfortable. He even made a sun-warmed rock into a pillow. What a smart bear!
After a while we tried to bring him home. He didnt want to move. As a matter of fact he refused to budge. We watched the cold rain clouds move closer and the sun begin to set.
But Huckleberry Bear Bear is 700 pounds. That is a lot of bear for any human to try to move.
You have to be patient with a bear. You can’t raise your voice; you can’t hurry him along. You are now on bear time and that’s final.
“Huckleberry Bear Bear”, we were thinking, “its only 500 ft. back to were we started. Come on Huckleberry Bear Bear!”
He was lying on his ample belly. We enticed him with marshmallows, his favorite treat. (Most of the time he gets fresh fruits and vegetables but in an emergency you do what you have to do. . .) He would roll out his long long tongue and snap it back with the marshmallow on its sticky tip. If we put it just out of reach he would heave his bulk just far enough along the ground to reach it, but if we put it too far away he would say no way. Not worth the trouble. Little by little Huckleberry Bear Bear moved, up one inch, back six. “Come on Huckleberry Bear Bear”, we yelled in our heads. But what could we do but wait?
So we waited. . . . . . and waited. . . . . . and waited. . . . .
And then it happened. He decided to go home.
It only took three whole bags of marshmallows and an hour and a half of patience to get him there. And the cold cold rain held off just long enough.
Next time, we will look at the weather before we start a bear walk.
But no matter what, you are a good bear Huckleberry Bear Bear.
“All the king’s marshmallows and all the king’s men, couldn’t get Huckleberry Bear Bear back home again.”
This video of Humble Bumble bear is a first ever in the world, in which the sound of an animal is made visible in real time. What you are seeing are the energy patterns within sounds.
CymaGlyph - Windwalker's Purr
Earthfire is privileged to be the first wildlife sanctuary in the world to have animal sounds made visible on a new type of scientific instrument, the CymaScope. Unlike instruments such as sonograms and oscillograms which show sounds graphically, the CymaScope gives us a picture of sound by imprinting the animal sounds on the surface of water. Rather like a fingerprint on glass, the voice of the animal imprints the surface of water, leaving an embossed impression that can be photographed with special imaging techniques. The images are not computer-generated but are the actual patterns of energy created by the animals.
So far, the CymaScope has been used to image three of our animal voices: Windwalker, the cougar, Firefly the fox, and Humble Bumble, our special grizzly bear. We plan on having the sounds of all our animals imaged to build a lexicon of animal CymaGlyphs – the name for a CymaScope image – that will be unique in the world.
CymaGlyph - Firefly's Call
John Stuart Reid of Sonic Age America, the company that developed the CymaScope said, “We are entering a new realm of exploration in which the voice patterns of these wonderful creatures will almost certainly lead to a better understanding of their communications and of the creatures themselves.
Thanks and gratitude to John Stuart Reid for his work and contribution. For more information, please visit www.cymascope.com.
Earthfire Institute’s specially-abled grizzly bear, Humble Bumble, soothes himself by sucking on his paw while humming to himself. In this video you hear the sweet sounds as he reassures himself in a world that is scary to him.
So many of you have asked about Major Bear; sent prayers, suggestions, love. So many of you asked how he was doing.
Major Bear left his body three weeks ago. We were with him. It broke our hearts. All of you who have gone through a loved one’s suffering and leaving know.
We lit candles by his head while we dug a grave for him. We buried him on our land, in our animal graveyard where all the animals we have ever had lie. One day we will have the time and funds to make it a sacred and beautiful place. Until then it is bathed in love and memories.
Following the tradition in many religions about the length of time the soul stays around the body and then begins its journey, we held a service for him a few days after his passing to help him on his way. We called in the love and wishes all of you have sent, to go with him. K’Lea came and played the Tibetan singing bowls again for him at his graveside. First they had been for healing. Then it was to support the highest and best outcome for him, whatever that would be, rather than try to make him live, for us. Now she played them for safe and good passage to wherever he was going. It was a lovely evening, wind whispering through the cottonwoods, birds singing.
Sad as we are, death is also an opportunity to get closer to that veil that separates the living from the dead, to understand more deeply the beauty of life and the great mystery of it all. For that we are always grateful. And as all of you know who have lost loved ones, the sweetness and richness of having had them in our lives far outweighs the sadness. We only wish that he was with us longer. . .
For those of you who would “send flowers” we ask that any loving gifts be sent care of the Major Bear Memorial Bear Garden for the five bears that remain. Just indicate your intent on the donation page.
We’ll be preparing a celebratory retrospective of his life in video to be posted shortly, we will send you the link via e-mail.
When an animal is sick we use all possible approaches to healing, because in our experience, wild animals are very receptive to energies. What we did do (actually we started as soon as we saw how poorly he was feeling) was contact people who loved Major Bear and asked for them to pray for him. Several of our friends are energy healers and they sent long distance reiki and other healing energy. One friend and admirer did a long distance shamanic healing ritual for him. Interestingly, she said in the process of going on a shamanic healing journey she could find no cancer masses in him…later verified by the vets at Washington State. Another healer, who had done something quite unfathomable to me in healing Teton Totem the grizzly bear from his paralysis when conventional medical care could not help, (see Teton’s stories on the web site) said whereas Teton had been willing and eager to receive the energy, Major Bear had flatly refused it, basically blocking it all off. She respected that feedback she did not even do an intuitive body scan. She gave us some hope though, saying that sometimes an animal will go into deep withdrawal, and starve themselves as a way to try to heal.
Day after day we offered him food which he refused. Though he was uncharacteristically secretive and we never saw him leave his box, we realized that he was drinking, as in the mo rning the water in his bucket would be down. Regarding the food, we had an onrush of very happy plump ground squirrels who discovered a bear enclosure full of food with no bear guarding it. We found apples and kiwis and watermelon nibbled to a nubbin by tiny little teeth.
Major Bear’s Auntie came to visit and sit with him, bearing gifts of organic grape juice, apple juice, blueberries and liquid probiotics in honey to help his digestion. A trained nurse herself she had followed the medical aspects of his care with absorbed interest, offering helpful suggestions along the way. We pondered together- could he somehow have never woken up from hibernation? He had already been 5 months without food during hibernation…did his appetite somehow never get awakened? Allergic reactions to parasites? Other possible reasons for the increased calcium in his blood? We pestered the vets with our ideas. She stood by the enclosure talking to him. She told him she loved him. She offered to peel him grapes.
I invited K’Lea, an energy healer trained in the use of Tibetan singing bowls to come help….it couldn’t hurt and perhaps it would bring him some ease. Despite her very busy schedule she immediately agreed to come the next day. It was cold snowy and wet weather, but she packed up and brought her 100 pounds of bowls and paraphernalia to his enclosure prepared to sit in the cold for the hour the healing would take. She had meditated deeply before in preparation on what healings to use.
It was drizzling, sleeting, muddy, gray and cold. Jean set up a piece of plywood just outside the enclosure so she would be off the ground and the wood would help carry the vibrations. Thus ensconced, she meditated again, and began. She did a healing for whatever would be for his highest good; a healing for depression, and once for peace. Major Bear was lying in his box, on his side, Jean just outside. His eyes opened at each new sound as she sounded different bowls with different vibrations. It was hard to tell what effect it might be having, but a sense of peace pervaded the whole scene, K’Lea sounding the bowls deeply concentrating, Jean and I feeling the vibrations and sending loving energy to Major.
A day later we noticed the grape juice with the probiotics was gone. Unlikely the little squirrels had drunk it all. A little lettuce was gone; then more grape juice. A little of his favorite very high quality dog food. The squirrels? Except………there was small pile of bear poop. Indubitable proof. The first food he ate in a month.
K’Lea came again one more time before she left on a trip. It was even more peaceful than the first time; she more connected now she had met him and had time to think about it. We had the feeling no matter what happened, if he was preparing to leave, or to heal, either way the bowls would ease the passage; support whatever the transition would be. I hope she can come again.
That is where we are now. He is not eating enough to sustain himself but at least he has an interest in food, which means an interest in life. Was it the loving gifts and visit of his Auntie and the love behind her offer to peel him grapes? The Tibetan bowls? Less romantic…a delayed reaction to the steroid? All the love combined, from visits and from people sending him love and healing long distance?
For now we wait, hoping against hope that something has changed inside him and he has found a way to heal himself along with all he loving support he has received.
In the last e-newsletter I wrote about trying to give a bear a pill. Because so many of you asked what happened, here is the next chapter in Major Bear’s journey. It has been difficult, but the good news so far is that Major Bear is still with us.
When I last wrote, we were trying to give him an antibiotic for what looked like a tooth abscess. I say looked like, because it is hard to get close enough to a bear to be sure- they are not into letting you let you pry open their mouth.
As time went on Major Bear stopped eating altogether and it was clear there was something very wrong. Was he not eating because of pain from his teeth? Was there something wrong with his jaw that it hurt too much to eat? We reluctantly agreed to have Don, our vet, tranquilize him to get the urgently needed antibiotics into him and do a proper exam. In our experience it is a trauma for a bear (or I suspect any wild animal) to be tranquilized. They have such a strong life force and sense of self preservation that it seems they experience the drug taking them over as impending death, and they fight it with everything they have. It is a major stressor on its own. It is a skill to give enough to put them under but not administer too much. The danger lies in misjudging the amount because of their fighting it and thus assuming you gave them too little…then you give them more and their system gets overwhelmed and they die. It took us three hours of waiting and watching but Don was patient, finessed it and succeeded.
The abscess was bad, but we were reluctant to pull the tooth without the antibiotics being in him beforehand. Also it was a canine which goes in a couple of inches deep to the bone so it would have meant a significant surgery, better done by a specialist. The x-rays were inconclusive. The blood tests were all normal except for an increased calcium level, which is a marker for possible cancer. Don gave him a long acting antibiotic shot (though there is so little research in bears, how long acting is a question). Our conclusion was that unless Major Bear received expert specialized care, soon, he was not likely to make it. The closest specialty teaching hospital was in Washington State, a 14 hour drive. They were not going to let us do a payment plan. The travel alone would be close to $1000 dollars and they requested we bring a blank check with us for potentially $3-4000 dollars – and that was just for immediate diagnosis and treatment. We have never had the luxury of setting aside enough money for a vet emergency fund. What to do? Let a bear die because of lack of money? We have never let that happen with an animal here and weren’t about to start.
It was Good Friday afternoon of Easter weekend when we got the test results back and the vets in Washington made themselves available for phone for consultation. At the very least, there was a bear dentist so we could ease that source of infection and discomfort. I contacted Major Bear’s official Auntie and most ardent admirer and shared with her his plight. She would have never forgiven us if we kept her in the dark until was too late, and we didn’t know how long Major Bear would last. The stress of the journey might prove fatal. Tuesday morning we received and e-mail from her – funds will be arriving immediately! It is hard to express the profoundly loving quality of many of our supporters but this is an example. The love and heartfulness behind the gifts are as nurturing and helpful as the gifts themselves.
The moment we knew we could bring the hospital a check, Jean swung into action, preparing a travel trailer. Could Jean have him there 8 am Wednesday morning when all the doctors could be standing by? Jean would find a way. I started all the necessary logistic and legal arrangements for traveling with a bear across state borders. Late Tuesday afternoon we were finally ready and went to get Major Bear, wondering how it would work. Usually we invited him to go where we needed with food but he was completely uninterested at this point, and had been lying in his box unwilling to come out for days. How to get him to come out? Then to enter the travel trailer?
Jean backed the travel trailer as close as possible to his enclosure, about 30 feet, and opened the back to exhibit a spacious cozy travel cage filled with fresh fragrant hay and a bucket of cool well water. We opened the door to his enclosure, backed away and waited. Major Bear looked up, gradually got to his feet and peeked out of his box. Very slowly he came out and looked around. He explored a bit as we held our breath. He walked to the trailer, put his head inside the doors and sniffed- it looked like he was about to go in…then a bird flew across the trailer screeching and startled him. Major Bear backed out. We waited. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Then, miracle of miracles – Major Bear, dear Major Bear, quietly, willingly, slowly, on his own, entered the trailer and the cage. His home with his own private box filled with hay was behind him; he knew what a travel cage was, having travelled before …yet he went in.
Jean took off, driving through the night on deserted roads to arrive at the vet hospital on time. The doctor and vet students came to see him and tranquilize him, 15 people standing there looking, all that energy coming at him. Major looked at Jean in a panic for reassurance. The doctor injected Major with a tranquilizer through the bars, Jean staying with him until he was under. As they took him off Jean asked to accompany him to the exam room. They were adamant that it was against hospital rules. Jean had to stand there as they took away his gentle bear. Jean, gentle also, and more obedient than I, exhausted from worry, stressful driving through the night and no sleep, told Major would be waiting right outside. I called a few minutes later to talk with Jean and they told me he was fast sleep in the waiting room.
Before they started the head doctor called and asked what to do if they found something ultimately incurable. Did I want to give a Do Not Resuscitate order? No! I did not! No matter what, especially after that pleading look he gave Jean, Major Bear was going to wake up and come back, to heal, or die, at home.
They worked on him all day, doing CAT scans, ultrasound, x-rays, extensive blood work. They could find nothing, yet all the doctors felt something else was going on beside his teeth. The blood work again suggested a cancer, but if so, where? They did what they could – removed his infected teeth; gave him more antibiotics, and a steroid in case it was lymphoma as they suspected. They hoped it would at least give him temporary relief and help his appetite. They felt really badly they couldn’t help more. Chemotherapy wasn’t an option. Not only didn’t we have a clear diagnosis; no one would know what the doses were, let alone how to administer and monitor it. Also, while we will go to great lengths if we feel the animal wants to live, and there is a good chance of recovery and a good life, chemotherapy with no guarantee of results did not seem a reasonable option. So home he came.
Jean, not wanting to leave him any longer than necessary in a strange place, loaded him up late Wednesday and headed home again through the night. He finally reached his limit a few hours from home somewhere in Montana, took a nap in the truck and arrived, a bedraggled man, Thursday morning. He backed up the trailer, opened the door, and Major Bear, showing more animation than he had in a long time, made a bear bee-line for his box. He wanted out and he wanted home. Bears are very emotional beings.
His belly had been shaved for the ultrasound. As he walked out we saw masses of pink bear belly skin contrasting with his black fur. Jean, who had a chance to look closely, said there were stretch marks. Major Bear had been a plump bear before this (hence Major Bear). Somehow, the picture of stretch marks on his pink exposed belly made him seem so vulnerable.
It is worth noting that the bear dentist, who had been very removed and formal and medical-like, saying she would only approach him tranquilized, obviously was touched by him when she met him. She wrote on the end of her detailed medical report. “Thank you for bringing us Major Bear. He was a wonderful patient” in large letters. Even sick, Major Bear struck a blow for bear appreciation and understanding.
We hoped after a couple of days of recovering from the tooth surgery he would feel better, but he still did not eat. We tried one more round of antibiotics to help with the infection and another steroid shot to try to stimulate his appetite. At this point we had done all that the best available conventional medicine could provide. Now there were prayers, visits and anything else we could think of as long as it was un-intrusive. We had bothered him enough. One kind lady had suggested acupuncture. From a health point of view it would have been a good thing to try – but we would have to find an acupuncturist who was willing. And Major Bear would have had to allow it. If anyone knows of an acupuncturist willing to work on a large un-sedated and unhappy bear please let us know for the future!
So we tried to go to give the bear brothers, Major Bear and Huckleberry Bear Bear, antibiotics in marshmallows, their favorite treat – usually they only get healthy foods. As per our last blog it didn’t work. Not even close. Plan B: honey, molasses, lemonade, and porridge sweetened with honey and raisins. No good. Huckleberry was recovering on his own but Major Bear wasn’t. So Plan Y, which we wanted to avoid, was to tranquilize Major Bear to be able to give him a long acting antibiotic shot and examine him to get a better idea of what was wrong. More details coming in a future blog but that is what we did. Upon examination, x rays and blood work we realized Major Bear would have to got to a bear hospital. To be continued…
Named after a passionate earth-mother wolf with a fire in her belly to protect anything vulnerable, Earthfire was founded in 2000 to develop a new model of relating to nature through the voices of the rescued wildlife>
We found this picture while organizing old files. It is too darn cute not to share.
So many of you have asked about 
Nomad Lives by Jennifer Sauer
