As we have written, Lucinda Bear, the seventeen-month-old yearling at ABR has made good progress.  She has gained necessary weight and her fur looks much better than when she arrived on May 24th.  Curator Coy has begun the process of luring her into an Acclimation Pen so she can be captured easily and sedated for her release back into the wild.  Sometimes the process goes very quickly, and other times (remember Milo Bear and how long it took to capture him?) it is a long process.

Curator Coy baited the Acclimation Pen adjoining Wild Enclosure #3 with items that should be irresistible to bears and opened the door.  He was able to photograph Lucinda as she checked out the pen.

Lucinda followed her nose to the baited pen.

She was tempted, but wary.

Lucinda stepped through the door, but her back legs and hind end remained outside.

It was as if she realized that something was different and maybe she shouldn’t go all the way inside.

She did not give in to temptation.

We have said before that bears are very smart animals.  They have been shown to have reasoning ability, which is a higher level thinking skill.  It may take a while to capture Lucinda, but Coy is patient.  He just wants her to get out in time to take advantage of the good soft mast (berries) crop that is currently available in the wild.  The question posed in the title will be answered – in good time, Lucinda’s time.