Biologist Captures Wild Video of Moose Fleeing From Grizzly Bear in Montana
It was an act of nature that few people ever see. Missoula native Wes Larson was at the Soda Butte Campground in Cooke City, Montana when he spotted something truly unusual — a moose, sprinting through the forest, with a bear following close behind.
Larson managed to get video of the incident, which has since stunned people online.
In the footage, which has since been shared by ABC 7 LA, it shows the moose coming out of the trees before turning around to check if the bear was behind it. Mere seconds later, the bear came charging out of the woods. The footage shows the animal pursuing the bull moose as they both run offscreen.
Related: Video of Moose Running Through Montana Campground to Outrun Grizzly Bear Is Wild
Speaking with KTVQ, Larson explained that even as a bear biologist it was a rare sight to be seen.
"I’d seen bears chase after a lot of stuff. I’ve hazed bears. I had to chase a whole grizzly bear family on foot in Jackson with a paintball gun,” he told the news outlet via Zoom.
But never in his travels, which include stints in Alaska and Utah, had he ever seen this.
“All I felt was a lot of excitement. I was very excited to see that unfold right in front of my eyes,” he recalled of the incident.
The man said he knew it wasn't just a miraculous moment of the natural world — he was this close to being in danger himself.
"Had I been out of the vehicle, close to those two, I wouldn’t doubt that the bear could have switched to me as another option," Larson said.
Larson explained that he'd gone to the campground that day to revisit the site of a 2010 fatal bear attack for a podcast, "Tooth and Claw" that he hosts with his brother and friend. The show explores bear attacks and how they can be avoided.
On the day that Larson showed up, he saw the bull moose come out of the woods and assumed that something else was going on completely.
"My music was quite loud in my car and I thought, 'Oh this moose is upset ‘cuz it hears my music,'" he explained. But when he found out the reason, he quickly tried to follow the action.
"And then I turned the camera off, and I threw it into reverse, backed up as quickly as possible as I could. I was hoping the bear had gotten the moose and I’d get to see this fight," he said.
Thankfully, there was no final showdown. The moose had managed to escape the bear's clutches and the bear wandered over to a meadow to graze. But that doesn't mean that Larson wasn't shaken by the experience.
"The thing that did kind of give me goosebumps afterward was this guy had died in campsite 26 and that’s the site that the moose was in and the site that the bear ran out on," he explained.
Although in the end he was just happy that he got to see something so special.
"It’s so amazing that we share the world with animals like a moose and grizzly bear," he said. "If we can appreciate them instead of fearing them, it just makes that experience so much better."
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