A wild discovery was made recently through a trail cam in the western upper peninsula of Michigan.
An incredibly rare black bear with all white fur was spotted, leaving avid hunters and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in awe.
It was a white-furred black bear.
There is a subspecies of black bears, called Kermode bears, where white fur is much more common (10-20%) however, they are almost completely exclusive to parts of British Columbia, Canada, which makes this sighting in Michigan even more wild.
And even among the Kermode bears of Canada, there’s believed to only be somewhere between 100 and 500 in existence.
Michigan DNR large carnivore specialist Cody Norton couldn’t contain his excitement about the discovery:
“I thought it was just too cool. It’s just exciting seeing an animal pop up like this here instead of somewhere else.
We’ve had some cinnamon color phases show up, some blonde and chocolate on some trail cameras we use for surveys, which is also really cool to see.
But those are more common in bear populations. White is its own thing.”
Although the discovery was made recently, we have now come to learn that the white black bear has died after getting attacked by wolves.
Yooper Outdoors shared the tragic news to FOX News Digital, the same group that discovered the rare bear in the first place on September 6th.
They shared in the post:
“Our wolf population has devastated our big game populations in the U.P.”
With roughly 700 wolves roaming the Upper Peninsula, farmers are having a tough time protecting their livestock. And with the Gray Wolf protected under the Endangered Species Act, it’s illegal to kill one unless is poses an immediate threat to human life.
A 2022 update to the state’s wolf management plan suggests the Upper Peninsula may have reached is wolf capacity so a hunting season may be in the works.
It truly is unfortunate to learn that such a rare creature died only a few short weeks after it was discovered.
RIP buddy.
After Three Years Of Searching, Man Finally Captures Incredible Footage Of Rare White Moose
What is this, Narnia?
Off color animals are the rarest and coolest things to come across in the wild.
Generally, they are truly once in a lifetime experiences, which is part of why spending time in the outdoors is so much fun. You never know what kind of once in a lifetime opportunities you might stumble upon.
This throwback to this 2017 video that perfectly encapsulates one of those experiences.
According to The Washington Post, nature lover Hans Nilsson chased after this guy for three years just to get a good look at him.
Finally, he came across the mystical moose, and two days in a row, he was able to encounter this amazing animal. Nilsson describes the experience perfectly.
“When I shot the video everything fell into place: the location, the light and the calmness. It was an experience to meet such a stately animal up close.”
That would be a dream, especially to have the opportunity to photograph and video an animal like this. It’s not often a Moose stays the calm for you to get in in pictures, especially one this rare.
Sweden is said to have 400,000 moose, but it’s said that only 100 of these white moose exist. This is also said to only be the second to ever make it on camera. That folks, is highly impressive. Hats off to Nilsson because I love knowing that things like this even exist.
Being a moose lover who will drive for hours just to have the chance of seeing one, I can’t even imagine coming across this guy.
Just amazing…
It is said that hunters in the area continuously pass on these animals when crossed during hunts in hopes that the genetic trait gets passed on and more start to pop up, however, there have been occasional hunter that will take an albino or piebald buck.
It’s always a point of contention…
That being said, thank you to Hans for searching for three years to get some footage of this beauty.
Jefferson White (Jimmy) Filled His Pockets With Chicken To Make A Bear Chase Him On The Set Of ‘Yellowstone’
One of the things about film that have intrigued me the most, is when actors have to work with live animals.
And we’re not just talking about cute dogs and other pets, we’re talking bears, wolves, alligators, horses, snakes, etc.
When you’re working with live animals that could kill you in a split second, they have to be so incredibly well-trained to be featured in these shows and movies, it’s crazy.
That’s yet another intriguing thing about Yellowstone…
Aside from the horses and cows the cast is working with on a daily basis, they work with actual bears and wolves too.
Kelly Reilly (Beth Dutton) and Jefferson White (Jimmy) sat down for an interview with People to discuss working with the wolves and bears.
Reilly admitted that she was a bit nervous working with wolves, but she was told over and over again by production that the wolves would be fine and wouldn’t harm her.
She said:
“I’m like, well, don’t you think their most inner instincts might come out when there’s a woman with a bottle of whiskey running up to them?
They were like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ve got these invisible pieces of cord, so if they do run at you, that will trip them up.’
Yeah… that’s really reassuring.
She continued:
“That’s not going to stop a wolf, let alone his 12 mates. But, we went for it and it was pretty terrifying I have to say. I’m in the middle of Montana and I’m running directly at a bunch of wolves.
I’m really brave.”
The interview then transitioned to Jefferson White, who actually had to deal with a bear chasing him up a tree in a scene.
“We shot it in like late November, so it was hibernation season. So this bear was like the laziest bear you’ve ever met. They kept trying to antagonize the bear to get it to chase me.”
After many attempts, the bear would simply not budge, so they had to get a little creative.
“What they ended up doing was stuffing my pockets full of chicken. So every pocket on my body was stuffed full of a shredded chicken to try to get the bear to chase me.”
Yeah, I don’t care if that bear is lazy or not…
You bet your ass I’d be shaking in my boots if the goal of the scene is to “get a bear to chase me.”
Gonna be a no from me dawg…
Montana Man Goes To Check His Mail, Gets Charged By A Moose Instead
Moose are one the most amazing creatures to roam the lands.
The largest around North America, and by far, one of the coolest to see.
They are however, one of the most dangerous. Known to get very defensive over their young, in the rut, and in general due to their poor eye sight and size, they’ll think nothing of running your ass clean over.
And this Bozeman, Montana, man certainly found that out first hand.
He heads outside and you notice a moose across the road standing up. It almost seems as though he knows its there and that he’s going to check it out.
But… he doesn’t.
Completely oblivious, he starts to turn his back to it without ever seeing it, and as it takes the first few steps towards him, he looks up and clearly is completely surprised at what is standing in front of him.
“Went to check the mail and I did not realize a moose was staring me down from across the street.
It began to charge me and my dog Reecey barked and let me know we were in danger.
She lunged at the moose then circled back and we both high-tailed it inside.
No harm, no foul…
But let’s skip on the morning coffee and go for the ol’ morning moose charge… I feel like that would wake you up a bit better. If this wasn’t feeling awake, he definitely was after that.
