Hello friends and followers!
This week I wanted to introduce you to this young black bear I had the pleasure of encountering a while back. It’s not common that you see a bear out in the middle of the day along one of the busiest highways outside of Yellowknife.
I’m guessing that this was the bear’s first summer foraging on its own after being chased off by its mother. Of course this could also be a young single male bear who has been on his own for a couple of years.
As you can see from the photos, it’s a dangerous world out there for bears. Not only do they have to beware of hunters, vehicles, and avoid the temptations of human development and laziness, but they also have to learn how to defend themselves and their young from other bears.
This poor bear looks like he or she has some experience in battle. The scars on her nose and muzzle are still healing and I’m not sure exactly what happened to her right ear but it looks like something bit it or scratched it as well.
I can’t imagine the extra hardship an injury must cause for animals when they already have a hard time surviving the wild. I’m sure there is a well of secret knowledge that animals have that help them keep infection at bay, bugs out of their wounds, and eliminate parasites from their digestive tract. (more on that fun fact another time!)
We often never learn the fate of animals we see in the wild and often can never fully understand the hardships of wilderness survival. Moving into winter I am grateful for the comforts of modern life and try to remember to be careful and gentle when out in the wild. Small things like packing out garbage, reducing and recylcing my plastic waste, and being aware of how my presence impacts the animals I photograph are a few ways that I try to make life a little bit easier for wildlife. What sorts of things do you do?