Alaskan Brown Bear Brings Her Cubs Right Up To Group Of Photographers

A once in a lifetime opportunity for these photographers. As wildlife photographers, they most often spend their time positioning themselves to be unseen and unheard so they can capture the perfect shot of animals in the wild doing their everyday tasks. While I personally would never have the patience to make it in this field, and I am clumsier than a bull in a China shop, I would constantly be disrupting the perfect shot. However, those in the field are experts at their craft and capture many moments from the wild that humans would never see without their talent. With a job this hard, when the perfect shot comes to you, they must be in awe. And that is precisely what happened when this group of photographers were stunned to see a momma bear leading her cubs right toward the group of photographers. An Alaskan wildlife photographer, Casey Cooper, led a group of photographers when this rare moment happened. Cooper took to TikTok to educate viewers on why the group remained still and quiet during the interaction, as the mom was checking out the group to ensure they would not harm her precious cubs. "You're probably wondering what is actually happening here and why this mother brown bear is getting so close to us so let me explain.... My friend Stone_images and I are longtime professional bear guides on the bear coast in Alaska. Scott has spent almost every summer camping in bear country with these bears for well over a decade and watched them grow from a young age, including this mother bear. The safer option in this moment was to keep everyone close and just let her calmly pass by us. This is Alaska and in specific locations the bears have more than enough natural food for them so they take almost no interest in mammals or humans especially when they are habituated like this sow. (This would never happen in other regions of Alaska or really anywhere else in the world) but quickly getting up and moving under these circumstances would have made her uncomfortable and could have changed the bear's behavior. Also to this bear that is very used to people being around she has learned that humans are not a threat to her or her cubs so her body language is very relaxed. This is why it's so important for you to do your research when choosing people to take you into bear country who can read bears and offer safe encounters." The informative information was wrapped up with sharing that brown bears in this part of Alaska are very tolerant of humans, but you should never let a group of brown bears get that close to you in the wild. They are at the top of the food chain in the wild for a reason. While many of the photographers remained as still as possible, a few in the group moved around, which made those in the comments extremely nervous. "I don't need to be faster than the bears; I just need to be faster than that first row of photographers, lol." "Too close, dude." "The woman who keeps moving!" "No photos are worth my life." "Nope. Nope. The bears will bear. They’re glorious- do not get me wrong- but they’re gonna bear!!" While these photographers were safe and all turned out well, I can't blame the public for expressing their concern. I'd be shaking with tears running down my face if I were in this situation. The end result, though...breathtaking.