Tourists on a bear viewing tour in Alaska had to fend off a charging brown bear recently by yelling and staying in a tight group.
In a video posted June 17 to their Instagram account, Scenic Bear Viewing was leading a guided bear tour in Chinitna Bay on Lake Clark’s Cook Inlet. During the video, tourists are seen observing a pair of brown bears that are close by, but not in any aggressive posture. Suddenly, the camera pans to show one of the bears charging toward the group of tourists who, taking the lead of the guide, start to growl and yell. The guide then waits until the charging bear trails off its charge to then take several steps forward to get the bear to run away.
“Never run from a charging bear, even though your instinct is to run,” the caption reads. “This is a bluff charge. They are just trying to get you to run. They have a natural chase instinct.”
The caption says the tours never get closer than 50 yards to the bears and that the company has been doing guided bear tours in the area for 10 years. It also states that humans have been visiting brown bears in this region for 30 years and the bears have become used to tourists observing them.
