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Mom Bear Scares Tourists In Yellowstone Park


Still Waters

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Tourists in Yellowstone National Park got a little too close to the wildlife this week, and one mother just couldn't bear it.

A watchful black bear sow sent the curious onlookers running after they crowded her three cubs in a section of the park in Montana. "Keep going! Go! Go!" Yellowstone Park Ranger John Kerr is heard yelling as the tourists scatter in a video.

http://www.nbcnews.c...al-park-n356516

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WOW! Mama bears can be quite protective of their young, and I am surprised she didn't charge some of the hikers - maybe because she was just overwhelmed by so many people on the road. I was very happy to see that she had three cubs, & the whole family looked very healthy! :)

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People should know better....especially with cubs around.

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Imagine this: Bears are crowding around to look at your kids. Kind of makes you think twice doesn't it.

Respect wildlife...it could save your life.

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I don't know that she was protecting her cubs (that trait in black bears is debatable anymore), she might have come to associate people as a source for easy food (handouts).

Dumb to get so close no matter what her reasons. Even just to avoid stressing her and her family or running over some kid in your dash to your car. I can completely understand the attraction, but we really don't care about these animals as evident by our behaviors.

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I don't know that she was protecting her cubs (that trait in black bears is debatable anymore), she might have come to associate people as a source for easy food (handouts).

I agree that certainly in that video, mama bear did not look like she was in a protective mode. However, my sister had an encounter with a female black bear & cub on a camping trip in Northern California. She had just gone to the camp's Porta-Potty about 200 yards from our camp, and was on her way back when she met a mama bear & cub on the trail.

I guess the bear chased her all the way back to the bathroom, where my sister took refuge, until her husband rescued her. I didn't see this, but I can tell you my sister was shaking like a leaf when she and her husband got back to camp. Despite the danger, I thought it was kind of funny that she was stuck in the Porta-Potty for a time! LOL! :lol:

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I agree that certainly in that video, mama bear did not look like she was in a protective mode. However, my sister had an encounter with a female black bear & cub on a camping trip in Northern California. She had just gone to the camp's Porta-Potty about 200 yards from our camp, and was on her way back when she met a mama bear & cub on the trail.

I guess the bear chased her all the way back to the bathroom, where my sister took refuge, until her husband rescued her. I didn't see this, but I can tell you my sister was shaking like a leaf when she and her husband got back to camp. Despite the danger, I thought it was kind of funny that she was stuck in the Porta-Potty for a time! LOL! :lol:

Yes, I didn't say the bear wasn't, I don't know what her intention was. And I'm sorry for your sister. Funny, but very not funny too!

But black bear mamas aren't like grizzly mamas as we think. She could have well been chasing the people away from her cubs or just herself, but most all attacks are by male black bears and mama black bears are much more reluctant to defend their young from humans than we think. There have been no known attacks by a mama black bear defending her cubs from a human, is what I've read. Plus, attacking people in a large group isn't known to ever have occurred either. Charges/chases to scare people off for one reason or another? Yes! But the people in the video may not have been in any danger, imo. Maybe she was just chasing running animals too.

But the way we don't care about wild animal protocol (for the animals benefit) as evident in that video, it isn't far off to wonder if she's been fed by humans especially with those cute little cubs and simply associated them as an easy food source and had no fear.

They need to be scared of us!

Edited by Q-C
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Have had several encounters with black bears while studying them in the wilderness, and I do agree that female black bears are much less likely than Grizzlies to defend their cubs, but it does happen. I have been stalked by females w/o cubs on a couple of occasions, but I think it might have been just out of curiosity.

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