Bears make for majestic wildlife photo subjects, but get too close and they may just start eyeing you up – either out of self-defence or, worse, as prey, as one photographer recently found out the scary way.
Kai Snyder (kaiseed0), a professional chef and amateur photographer, was out snapping in the Lake Clark National Park Reserve in Alaska when she came across an enormous Alaskan brown bear lapping up water from a river.
After a few moments, the bear’s survival instincts kicked in – it turned its attention to Kai, giving her the most bone-chilling stare. Fortunately for the photographer, the river stood between her and the beast.
Alaskan brown bears weigh anywhere from 200 to over 1,500 pounds (around 90 to 680kg) depending on their sex, the season and their location.
More commonly known as grizzly bears – although not the only type of grizzly bear – they can be found in mainland Alaska, heavily populating the southern coastal regions and the Kodiak Archipelago.
Incidents of Alaskan grizzlies attacking photographers are rare, but have happened.
In 2012, a California hiker was mauled and killed while taking photos of a 600-pound grizzly. Photos recovered from the man’s camera showed that he’d come within 50 yards (45 meters) of the grazing bear, violating park rules that mandate a quarter-mile (402 meter) distance.
While we don’t know how close to the bear Snyder was, we do know that this wasn’t her first encounter with a grizzly. In fact, the Alaska resident has said in other TikTok clips that she’s “so stoked to live in a place where bears walking through the yard is an everyday occurrence.”
I’m glad to see that this latest and viral encounter ended safely for the photographer, and hope to see more of her work soon. There are a couple of shots on her Instagram of grizzly bears that are very nicely composed.
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