You’re walking through the woods, and accidentally walk up on a massive 500-pound male grizzly mauling a much younger grizzly, with the mother looking on. What you gonna do?
Graphic video footage has surfaced of this exact scenario at Yellowstone National Park.
It is pretty tough to watch, considering the much smaller grizzly doesn’t even stand a chance as it hopefully gets flung around by the massive grizzly.
According to Outdoor Life, Paul Allen, a long-time visitor of Yellowstone and photographer, was the one to capture this wild footage on May 22nd.
He was originally just taking pictures of the young bear, when all of a sudden, an older and larger pair of grizzlies approached it, and that’s when things got messy.
He shared his theory of why the large grizzly did what he did, telling the outlet:
“I’m no grizzly expert, but I’ve been coming to Yellowstone to shoot photos for about 20 years. I’ve seen lots of bears over the years, and I have a theory of what occurred.
If the young bear knew they were near I believe he would have run away. But the female bear surprised the young one, and she initiated the fatal attack, and it wasn’t a bluff charge.
Bears have a superb sense of smell, and I think she was trying to run the young bear away. She knew it was her cub. She was being courted and mated by the larger male grizzly, and a female won’t actively mate until their young leave them.
The female was fighting the young male when the bigger male bear showed. He is the biggest grizzly I’ve ever seen in Yellowstone, about 500 pounds, aggressive and full of fight.”
The site notes that the older bears more than likely smelled the younger one, as it appears the two didn’t accidentally come across it.
Also, the younger bear would’ve quickly gotten out of there if it had seen them coming.
You can also see the alleged mother was engaged in the fight throughout the whole video, meaning that she was more than likely trying to runoff her baby’s attacker.
Check it out:
Paul shared various photos of the vicious attack to his stunning Instagram page.
But please be warned, they’re not for the faint of heart.
Paul also shared a detailed, and poetic, description of what he witnessed Sunday morning at the park:
“Today, Janet and watched a beautiful sub-adult grizzly picking his way through the grass, digging for grubs or squirrels, just as he had been observed for the past few weeks. His coat shimmered, his gate was easy, and we watched until we’d had our fill.
Just as we turned for the car, two enormous adult grizzlies, a giant male in pursuit of a female who would soon be in estrus, came charging into the scene. I turned my camera toward them, first the big sow, then the huge boar.
For a moment, we stood in awe as three great bears were within our field of vision, and then… she charged the young bear, who for all appearances wasn’t paying attention to the intruders. The huge male followed, brushing her off the young male and sending her tumbling, with a mind set on a single objective: to kill him.
We watched as that was carried out. The very engine that drives evolution, growth, and the preponderance of life on this planet is the two cycle stroke of birth and death. Every life now depends entirely on the death of all that went before. It is as natural as the light of morning chasing away the dark of night.
We were once much more aware of the death that sustains our own lives, but have long since pushed death to the shadows. But what we watched today was not immoral. In a way, I feel reverence for the great bears, because they reminded me of the enormity of their power, that the bears of Yellowstone are no mere circus acts, or captives of roadside menageries.
They are wild, terrible, beautiful, amazing creatures among whom I will tread all the more carefully, for what I witnessed today was, in a word, awesome.”
A humbling reminder that nature is indeed, savage.
