Category Archive

This is one of those moments in nature I will never forget. We were watching a sow and a young cub fish the water hole in front of us. After a bit, the sow crossed over and fished right next to us, while the cub stayed on the far side. Then, out of the grass another adult bear appeared on the same side of the river as the cub. This adult took one look at the situation, and then took off after the cub!

In the first photo you see all three of the bears as the mom comes to the cubs rescue. Surprisingly, the sow briefly got distracted by a salmon and actually stopped and turned around before going back to the pursuit. In the second photo, you can see the mom in hot pursuit as the adult viciously attacks the cub – we thought it was dead. In the next photo you can see the sow arriving and saving the cub which could still walk to our amazement. The sow and cub sat side by side not moving for a good half hour after the attack. In the final image, the sow and cub came back to the waterhole for more fishing, and as you can see, the cub hardly has a mark! This fortunately had a happy ending, however the events definitely had us rattled for awhile.

A brown bear sow standing up for a better view of the salmon, Geographic harbor, Katmai National Park, Alaska.