Welcome back! This Sunday I’m sharing my favourite story from my trip to the Khuzeymateen.
I mentioned last week that I had an opportunity to see a mother bear and her cub every day of my trip. It was nice to be able to readily identify an individual and have them feel familiar in such a short amount of time. One of the things that struck me the most was how quickly I could identify individual bears. They are incredibly diverse in their appearance and behaviour and it was fascinating to be able to see how many individuals were in the small area we explored. Mum and cub were my favourite pair.
During our time on the estuary we encountered this tiny family every day, sometimes more than once as they explored different areas. It was surprising how quickly they could get from one part of the park to another. My captain and tour guide had over 30 years experience working in the park and observing the bears so he was very knowledgeable in terms of which bears were approachable and which were not. The mother and cub were related to one of the first bears he had ever encountered in the park and one he had followed for most of her life.
The cub was about a year old and had a light-coloured V shape across her chest. Her mother was very tolerant of our presence which may have been acting as a deterrent to the large male bears. She moved up and down the estuary likely to keep her cub safe. After a couple of hours observing this little family we headed back to the sailboat for supper.
I watched them play from the bow through a pair of binoculars I felt a bit like a voyeur catching a glimpse of something rarely seen. It felt like watching a private moment shared between a mother and child, much like you might observe on a playground or behind the scenes at a family reunion. They had been in that estuary their whole lives and would continue to eat, sleep, play, hunt, breed, and raise their young. They would live and die in this area for generations and it struck me hard how important it is for animals to have autonomy.
Bears live very different lives from us but they should be entitled to a safe place in which to live them. Watching the cub wrestle and play with his mom made me realize how similar animals needs are to ours. All species should be entitled to a significant area of our planet in which to live their lives undisturbed by the threat of hunting, development, or even invasive scientific studies.
The sight of that mother and cub playing together was a glimpse into the intimate lives of just 2 bears in the area. There are hundreds of grizzlies who each have a life story as unique as our own. It’s in these moments that I am inspired to keep shooting and sharing the stories of individuals I encounter.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s story. Thanks again for stopping by.