GRAPHIC: Video Shows Grizzly Bear Taking a Moose Calf in Montana
If you've ever needed a reminded as to why you should always keep at least 100 yards between yourself and either a grizzly bear or a moose, this is it.
A viral video shows a grizzly bear attacking a moose calf and what follows after the moose cow confronts the bear head on. The incident occurred last Friday (May 27th, 2022), in Glacier National Park in Babb, Montana.
The video was posted to the YouTube channel, ViralHog, with a detailed caption that states:
It started with the moose showing up on the property of the many glacier hotel in the early morning with two newborn calves. Within a few hours, a grizzly bear appeared a few hundred yards up the mountain watching over it. Once the momma moose saw the grizzly she moved to the opposite side of the hotel and hung out right up against the lake. A few hours after that the grizzly came out of the swift current lake trail trailhead. The grizzly would test the moose trying to get closer and closer. Each time the moose would start to charge the grizzly and the grizzly would take off for an hour or two then return. This happened at least 4 times. That was all on Friday. Around 9:30 PM was the last time we saw the grizzly that day. However, I did watch over the moose all night. She didn’t sleep she stayed up and looked out for that grizzly but didn’t move from that spot on the lake. The next morning at 7:30 AM the grizzly returned and hung out about 30 yards away from the moose for hours. Trying to get closer and closer. Around 11:30 AM the grizzly finally just went for it and the mamma moose didn’t really try to defend the calf at that point. She was extremely exhausted from being up that long and just given birth. The grizzly made the kill and took the baby moose back into the woods to feed. Two hours later the grizzly came back trying to get the second calf but the moose charged back this time and ended up chasing the grizzly into one of the windows of the many glacier hotel. Luckily the grizzly didn’t end up going all the way through. The bear then took back off into the woods. The bear didn’t come back after that for the rest of the day. Sunday the bear came back and made one more attempt and the moose was able to scare it off again. This time for good. At this point NPS decided to haze the moose away from the hotel and back into the woods. Grizzly has returned a few times since then looking. So as far as I know the second calf did survive"
*The video is graphic and age restricted, so if it doesn't load, log on to your personal YouTube account and/or click here. Otherwise the Instagram version is below.*
Here's a different angle of the aftermath, which shows the grizzly running into a plate glass window at the hotel while being chased away by the moose cow.
This particular video shows how violent the circle of life can be for wildlife, and it should also act as a good reminder of why you should always keep a safe distance from the animals. Yes, the grizzly bear did injure (possibly fatally), one of the moose calves, but the video clearly shows how dangerous the moose cows can be, especially when protecting their offspring.