Having adopted the Black Bear as its theme a few years back, Rossburn continues to work valiantly to see a life size, bronze statue in honor of the world famous black bear “Duke” erected in the community in time for the town’s 100^th anniversary celebration next summer.

The statue will be approximately 7 ft. x 7 ft. in total with the bear standing with his front paw on an about 14” high stone. The bronze is being created by Ruth Abernethy of Wellesly, ON, who has some family roots in the Russell area.

Along with this project, black bear symbols have been erected on street signs throughout the town, and on two community entrance signs on the east and west sides of Rossburn adjacent to Highway 45 thanks to involvement by different entities. The Rossburn Daycare also took on the theme by choosing the Little Cubs Den as their name upon opening.

Community Development Officer, Ilse Ketelsen, said the bronze statue of the area’s famous bear Duke will be prominently displayed in the Rossburn Memory Park on Victoria Ave E.

“The community tribute to “Duke”, one of the area’s largest, most beloved black bears, that tipped the scales at 812 pounds will be situated in a beautiful, natural setting where visitors can enjoy a picnic or take photographs,” said Ketelsen. “By being located in town limits, it’s hoped that the statue’s interest will also draw tourists to support local businesses.”

Duke was once the largest black bear to roam the Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) and the municipality of Rossburn. Murdered by poachers, the large bear was found dead in 1992.

Duke will live on

In the minds and the hearts of Rossburn citizens, this famous bear will live on through the support of a local donor, the Town and Rural Municipality (R.M) of Rossburn, the Rossburn Subdivision Trail Association (RSTA), Parkland Tourism and a dedicated committee.

“The project ongoing since 2008 has been blessed with the generous support of local donors in Walter and Adele Mychasiw of Vista,” shared Ketelsen. “In memory of the Mychasiw and Trakalo families, they have been putting forth a substantial amount paying for the bronze statue itself. The RSTA – seeing the marketing potential being erected close to the TCT – has agreed to take on the coordination of the project, while the R.M. and Town will help cover the cost of set-up and landscaping.

It is felt the life size statue will be a gorgeous community attraction that will bring forth increased tourism activity and an attraction that will help to ensure the community’s sustainability not only by drawing attention to the black bear population – aka our great nature in the area - but also through a master piece done by the Ontario artist.

“Her roots to our region was an additional attraction for us to hire her, but her work speaks for herself,” shared Ketelsen. It can be viewed at www.abernethy.com.”

Abernethy’s sculptures have been placed municipally, regionally and nationally and she's been awarded numerous private commissions. Her first bronze commission was in 1996.

Duke, planned to be officially unveiled in conjunction with the Town of Rossburn’s Centennial Celebration – July 1-7, 2013 - is a special community project in Abernethy’s eyes.

As published in the Crossroads Newspaper

March 18th, 2008

A community tribute to “ Duke”, one of Rossburn’s largest, most beloved black bear.

Contact Information:

TEAM DUKE

Marilyn Sabeski, Chairperson

55 Manor Dr.

Rossburn, MB R0J 1V0

Tel: 204-859-2869

E-mail: teamduke@live.ca

A group of community residents, with the support of the local Economic Development Officer and Parkland Tourism plan to erect a life size, bronze statue in honor of the world famous black bear “Duke”.

The statue of “Duke” will be situated in a beautiful, natural setting where visitors can enjoy a picnic or take photographs.

“Duke” will be located within the town limits to encourage tourists to support local businesses.

Duke roamed the municipality of Rossburn and was researched by biologists and Park Warden in Riding Mountain National Park, located just north of Rossburn, Manitoba.

Duke was once the largest ever recorded black bear.

He was found dead in 1992, murdered by poachers, within Riding Mountain Nation Park limits, for his gallbladder.

In drawing attention to our black bear population, the committee intends to create awareness and protection for black bears in this area with interpretive information available at the site.

The community of Rossburn has adopted a black bear theme and will be incorporating it into community signage and advertising.

The committee will also cooperate with Outfitters in the area in an effort to preserve the local hunting industry which contributes to the sustainability of the community.

Rossburn adopts Black Bear Theme

By: Thomasina Charney

Black Bear At every community development meeting I have ever been to in the last two years, the idea of creating a theme for our community is always mentioned. The general concept is that just like Gladstone has a “Happy Rock”, Russell has a “bull”, Onanole has an "elk”, Rossburn needed something to call its own as a way to create awareness and recognition for our home sweet home, something businesses could adopt and promote, something the entire community could be proud of.

When I heard the story about the famous black bear named “Duke”, who has once been named the largest black bear ever recorded in the world (Duke weighed approximately 812 pounds) and the story which was published in an old issue of the Equinox about the black bears population in this area, I was immediately on board with the idea that we could begin to promote the fact that this area has the largest black bears in the world and we could essentially build on this community theme.

We could promote our black bear population to benefit conservation and to benefit the various outfitting businesses in this area. We would promote our theme as a means to increase tourism activity and to ensure our sustainability.

I am working on a local committee which is planning to see a statue erected in honor of “Duke”, the world famous black bear, here in the town of Rossburn. We are planning to work with the local “Petal Pushers Club” to guarantee a beautiful park-like setting for the statue which we can all be proud of. The statue will be life size, constructed out of wood or bronze and will be a gorgeous attraction with interpretive information. To draw in visitors to the business sector. As well, new community entrance signage will be erected in the Spring of 2008 which will feature a picture of a black bear to build on this theme.

For more information on “Duke”, our new signage or the article on the Black Bears in this area, featured in the Equinox please give me a call. Also, we are going to need more committee members dedicated to seeing this project through, so please contact me to see how you can get involved.