Child Bear Nibbles on Photographer’s Boot

A child bear took a nibble at a photographer after turning into inquisitive about his boot.

Wildlife photographer Bruce Robert Danz was within the Katmai Preserve in Alaska on August 2 with one other shooter whereas capturing photographs of three cubs and a mama bear fishing.

But as is typically the case with wildlife pictures, the bears wandered near the people; a little bit too shut.

As the cubs emerged from the muddy river, the trio of inquisitive cubs walked previous the 2 photographers.

Danz’s companion could be heard saying, “No bear, no bear” because the bears get too shut for consolation. Then one of many cubs couldn’t resist the urge to research and began sniffing at Danz’s shoe.

The sniff turns right into a nibble and Danz rapidly pulled his foot away ever so barely. “No bear, that’s my foot,” Danz says.

“Just moving my boot a little was enough to end the interaction and the cub fell back in line,” Danz tells Storyful.

Danz was on a photographic tour with Jerry Jacques, who has been main grizzly bear photograph safaris since 1977.

“We kept our distance, kept quiet and did not disturb the bears from fishing,” Danz says. “The bears were aware of our presence and occasionally would walk very close to us.”

“Jerry said we handled the situation perfectly by not causing alarm,” Danz provides. “Jerry suggested perhaps the cub was tired of salmon and wanted to try some filet of sole. I was not afraid, just intent on keeping quiet and not causing alarm.”

It’s the second time this summer season {that a} photographer has had an in depth encounter with a grizzly bear in Katmai: photographer Matt Addington bought inside inches of a grazing grizzly bear, capturing some unbelievable close-up photographs.

Despite folks joking that the bear was consuming a salad whereas making ready for steak, Addington described it as “one of the more peaceful, serene, surreal moments that I’ve ever had.”

Similar to what occurred to Danz, the bears had been initially a whole lot of yards away however naturally drifted over to the place they had been sitting, untroubled by human presence.

Katmai is dwelling to 2,000 brown bears and right now of yr, they eat as much as 120 lbs of grass a day to organize for winter hibernation.