This wild video out of Japan goes to show that there’s nothing that will stop a mother bear from making sure her cubs are safe… not even a moving vehicle.
I’d say it’s common knowledge at this point that mother bears are some of the most dangerous animals on the planet. A bear is generally considered an apex predator. But if it’s a mother bear? That makes the creature that much more aggressive, dangerous, and willing to do whatever it takes.
I’ve said it time and time again, and I’ll say it once more: Never, under any circumstance, do you want to put yourself between a mother bear and her cubs. Bears will often try to avoid running into humans. But if they get close to their cubs? Humans become public enemy number one, even if they’re inside a vehicle.
Nayoro Police in Hokkaido, Japan were driving along a roadway at night when they came upon a mother bear running down the road with her cub. That area of Japan is actually home to two different species of bears: the Asiatic black bear and the Ussuri brown bear. The one in this video appears to be the latter.
Interestingly enough, Japan has actually had an uptick in bear attacks in recent years, and based upon this video below, it’s easy to see why.
This bear wasn’t fazed by the car barreling down the road in the slightest. When the police vehicle got too close (you don’t ever want to find out what “too close” is for a mama bear), the mother turned right towards the hood of the automobile and launched a vicious attack.
It scratched, clawed and even bit the hood of the car, and it was all caught on the dashboard camera. Just when the police thought they were in the clear when the mama bear jumped down and began to run away, the wild animal came back for seconds, even growling as it damaged the front of the cop car.
The cub patiently waited for its mother to finish up before they both fled away from the vehicle and slowly disappeared. Understandably, the police car stayed stationary until the mama was a good ways away. That was probably the right call, and in hindsight, they probably could have slowed down when they first approached.
Check it out:
“Dashcam video shows the moment a protective mother bear charged and attacked a vehicle. In the video, the brown bear backs off and then charges the vehicle again while the driver remains safely inside. After the attack, the bear ran off into the darkness with her cub.”
Sheesh… that right there is a mother bear that’s willing to do anything to keep her cub safe.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in this encounter (maybe minus the car). Hopefully no one is hiking around those parts, because clearly this mama bear doesn’t mess around. You are supposed to keep 100 yards away from more dangerous animals like bears, and for this one in particular, I’d stretch that out to about a mile.
