A video of an incredibly close encounter with a brown bear in Alaska has gone viral – almost two years after it was posted.
Thanks to some international media attention, the video, posted to Facebook by Drew Hamilton, has jumped in popularity with thousands of shares.
In the video, the bear can be seen walking very close to where Hamilton is filming. He then checks out the river, sits down for a moment and then gets up and walks away.
Neither the bear, nor Hamilton, make a sound until the end of the video when Hamilton can be heard saying ‘hey’, as if in warning to the bear.
This was filmed at the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary in Alaska. On their website they state “no one has ever been injured by a bear at McNeil River and since the permit program was initiated, no bears have been killed by visitors who felt threatened. To maintain this record, visitor activities at the sanctuary are closely managed and evaluated. However, it is always important to remember that the McNeil bears are wild animals with all the potential for aggressive behavior, so visitors are accompanied by armed department staff.”
A brown bear can grow to up to 1,500 lbs and while grizzly bears are a subspecies of brown bears, not all brown bears are grizzly bears.
Brown bears can be found in North America, Asia and Europe. In the interior portions of North America, brown bears are referred to as grizzly bears, which distinguishes them from the brown bears who live in the coastal areas of Alaska.
- Source: Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle
I would have pissed myself. And shit myself. And possibly dropped dead from a heart attack, too.
What would you have done?
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:20 am
by Econoline
All of the above.
And puked.
And forgot about taking a video.
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:04 am
by Gob
bigskygal wrote:
I would have pissed myself. And shit myself. And possibly dropped dead from a heart attack, too.
What would you have done?
I'd have filmed you for teh interwebz.
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:14 am
by wesw
whatever the bear wanted me to do. hopefully he wouldn t make me shoot him, he might get pissed off if I had to shoot him
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:06 am
by rubato
Those bears absolutely, positively, scare the hell out of me.
Have you seen the Werner Harzog movie "Grizzly Man"? It gives me the heebie jeebies.
I do not want to ever share an uncontrolled space with them.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 8:46 am
by TPFKA@W
When I was but a wee lass, age 5 in fact, I was somewhere between Montana and Alaska. I don't recall exactly whether it was in Montana or somewhere in British Columbia but we were on vacation in a campground, I recall a lovely huge teddy bear (aka grizzly) came ambling near me out of the blue as I was playing near the camper. It was just about that close and I recall holding my hand out to the friendly looking thing saying, "here beary, here beary". Next thing I was snatched up by my grandfather and stuffed into the back of the camper and received an intense lecture on bears.
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:09 am
by BoSoxGal
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 11:49 am
by wesw
I wish there were still black bears on the eastern shore. we have a few swim in from jersey and PA from time to time, but the govt keeps sending them back.
same with the manatee that kept swimming up to the Chesapeake. idiots. captain john smith saw them here. let them come back if they want.
same with the dolphins that swam up to the Salisbury park during the herring run. they were just fishing and they beat the poor things to death on the rocks trying to save them.
idiots....
Re: Close Enough to Smell His Fishy Breath
Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:49 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
What would you have done?
I would have chambered a round, put the sights of my rifle on his head, clicked off the safety, try to remain calm and hope the bear backed off.
