Bear vs Moose
I came across this scene just minutes after the sow grizzly and her two cubs killed the young calf of this cow moose. The poor moose just kept circling, her mothering instincts so strong that she would continue to move in close to check on her calf, until the sow would chase her off. The cow moose left the area a couple of times, but continued to return. Finally she was able to get in a position above the bears where it appeared to me she could see her calf was gone, after this final look, she left for good.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Thanks for sharing that story - Mother Nature can be tough to watch at times.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:12 am
A telling tale of life in the wild. It’s too bad humanity has lost touch with its wild side - it always takes a local tragedy for people to remember life is precious.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:11 am
That is a sad story, but that is nature. Only the strong & lucky survive. Great pic!! Stay safe, as always!
June 13th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
That is very sad. I hope that there are many other moose calves this spring who will be luckier.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Thanks for the comments.
I know exactly what you are saying Laurent.
Genevieve, as I was watching this, another cow moose with two new babies went running past me - I think she realized the situation and got the heck out of there, so hopefully those calves survived. Earlier in the week, I heard reports of this same sow killing another calf. This isn’t a good place to be a moose calf. And with spring being late, there wasn’t too much for the bears to graze on, so I imagine the moose looked good.
Ron
June 14th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
It’s a hard story to hear. But, what a really amazing image. Not only does it depict a great story, but the composition is so strong. It would have been a fine landscape piece without the moose and bears, it’s really something with them.
June 15th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I like that this is a variation of the theme from the last post. That would have been interesting to photograph the kill also. The impending sense of danger is quite effective too.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Thanks a lot guys!
Ron
June 21st, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Definitely a powerful story. The background to the image adds a lot. Living in the wild is definitely not easy particularly for a Moose.
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 am
Thanks Jim,
Yeah, this is a trough place to be a moose!
Ron