A black bear wandered to within a few feet of a crowd gathered at the Jenny Lake shuttle boat dock at Grand Teton National Park, acting almost as if the tourists weren’t even there.
To their credit, the tourists kept their composure for the most part. In a video of the incident, a befuddled visitor can be heard asking, “What are we supposed to do?”
Another visitor apparently cracks a joke about trying to fight the bear, although nobody jumped out and attempted to do so.
Vimal Smr of Atlanta, Georgia was there and took the video on May 29. He told Cowboy State Daily that he wasn’t particularly alarmed during the encounter.
Originally from India, he said some of the wild animals there, such as tigers, are far more intimidating than “a small to medium-sized bear.”
Casual Stroll
Smr was visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone with his family, and saw several species he hadn’t yet seen in the wild, including grizzlies and black bears.
Even so, “I never expected to get that close to a bear,” he said.
His family was among a crowd packing the docks, awaiting shuttle boats, when the bear appeared – seemingly out of nowhere, ambling toward the mob.
If things had gone badly there might not have been any good options, because the area was so crowded, Smr said.
“We didn’t have any place to go,” he said.
Luckily the bear and crowd stayed calm, he added.
There was some “excited chatter” from a few of the tourists, but nobody attempted to get any closer to the bear, reach out and grab it or otherwise disturb the animal, Smr said.
The bear strolled past at a casual pace, he said.
“If the bear would have stopped, or bit at something” it likely would have caused panic, Smr said.
‘I’ve Seen All Those Animals In The Forests’
Smr said he was thankful that the bear just went on about its business, and the tourists stayed calm, because a panicked stampede on the cramped dock would have ended badly.
While the wildlife in Yellowstone and Grand Teton was new to him, he understands the importance of staying calm around large, potentially dangerous critters. That’s thanks to experiences in his home country.
“In India, in the forests, you see tigers, leopards, elephants and jaguars. I’ve seen all of those animals in the forests,” he said.
Especially when elephants have young offspring nearby, “you have to be very careful,” he noted.
Multiple Bear Reports
Biologists say that generally speaking, black bears are more comfortable around people than grizzly bears, but both species should be given plenty of space.
On the mellow side of black bear behavior, a sleepy bear zonked out about 30 yards from a busy road in Yellowstone National Park, snoozing away without a care in the world.
On the not-so-nice side, there have been multiple black bear attacks reported in Colorado and Montana in recent years.
And on May 25, a mother black bear with cubs attacked and injured a man who was trail running in the Squamish Estuary Wildlife Management Area in British Columbia, Canada.
There have been multiple bear sightings reported in the Jenny Lake area so far this spring and summer, Grand Teton spokeswoman Emily Davis told Cowboy State Daily.
There apparently weren’t any reports of trouble caused by the bear that Smr and others saw strolling along the dock, she said.
“Oftentimes, the bears are just doing bear things, and looking for food,” Davis said.
It’s best when tourists react the way that the ones on the boat dock did — by not panicking or otherwise interfering with the bear, she said.
Bears should never be given human food, and people shouldn’t run from them, Davis said.
Running will trigger bears’ predatory chase instincts, she said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
