Bears and Tourist in MT.

roadhunter

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Saw this today. Never ceases to amaze me how people act when photographing animals.

http://www.grindtv.com/wildlife/a-t...ars-cross-montana-bridge/#6DQ71vBYzQ4x2AcG.97



A tense situation for tourists as black bears cross Montana bridge




May 08, 2015 by Pete Thomas










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image: http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/bears2.jpg
bears2
Tourists begin to scurry for cover; video screen grab

Wildlife enthusiasts found themselves in a tense situation recently on a bridge near Gardnier, Montana, as a black bear sow and her three cubs began to run toward the people who had left their vehicles in order to observe more closely and take photographs.

The accompanying footage, showing adults and children becoming more worried as the bears pick up speed (as if sensing panic), was captured by Winston Greely of the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department.








KTVQ.com

About 25 seconds into the footage a voice warns, “Watch out little girl!” and the girl’s frightened whimpers can be heard clearly in the footage. Despite warnings being issued by someone in the background, many people refuse to climb back into their cars and to give the bears the wide berth momma bear seemed to be demanding.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks posted the video to Facebook on Friday, and it had garnered 86,000 views in the first five hours. Reads the description:


“It serves as a reminder that wildlife can be unpredictable. For your safety and theirs, respect wildlife and give them room to roam.

View and photograph from established observation areas. Stay a safe distance to reduce stress on wildlife. Luckily, no one was hurt and these bears made it safely back to the forest.”

Read more at http://www.grindtv.com/wildlife/a-t...ars-cross-montana-bridge/#OoIHKHJMPYAAdCOI.99
 
Yep, I saw that on our News too.
it amazes me how Stupid some people are when it comes to a Wild animal, specially a Mother Bear with Cubs.

Kevin
 
I was down in that country for Mother's Day.

Tourists, though often stupid, gave this fellow a wide berth.
 

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Oooh that 120lb man-eater was sure posturing and ready to kill the first tourist it came accross.

Those bears were scared to death, and were trying to get off the bridge and away from the people who had them trapped. The odds that those tourists were in "danger" was about zero.

The mama bear myth is continually perpetuated, and makes them out to be some sort of blood thirsty kill at all cost monsters. What funny is that people (hunters) who believe they understand bears continue to believe this. I would love to know the stats for how many mama black bears attack humans in defense of their cubs. I'll bet its near zero. I've spoken with a couple bios who trap and collar black bears fairly regularly. They catch the cubs, and mama stands back and watches.

Griz on the other hand is a whole different ball game. They will defend cubs, and will go on the offensive. Surprise a black bear and it will run off... surprise a grizzly and you better be ready. I believe that something like 1-2 out of 10 surprise encounters result in either a charge or bluff charge.
 

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