Large predators are fairly indiscriminate when it comes to hunting for food. They will go after smaller animals within their own species if they are hungry. From the outside looking in, it seems cruel, but it really is just how nature works. Grizzly bears are opportunistic and, like most humans, are omnivores. They will eat plants and other animals, including tackling and eating moose and even other bears.
A father and son hunting duo captured this jarring footage of a grizzly aggressively digging out a black bear sow and her cubs from their den, which they later posted to YouTube.
Logan Hunter and his father saw the bear about 40 minutes outside Whitecourt, Alberta. "We looked at it with the binoculars and realized it was a grizzly bear. My dad was super excited because he said it's the second one he's ever seen in his entire life," Hunter told CTV News in Edmonton.
As they drove up, they assumed it would run away. But unbeknownst to them, it was hunting. The two men saw the bear digging into the roof of a bear den. Per the video captions, a black bear sow and her three cubs were inside the den. The grizzly had the four black bears cornered and was ferociously attempting to dig them out.
Viewers can only see the grizzly's angle throughout the majority of the six-minute video, but from his recoils, you can tell that the mama black bear is fighting back with all her might. Hunter told CTV News that he and his dad saw "a black paw come up out and started fighting."
Hunter continued, "It's hard to see in the video, but one of the cubs tried to run for it." Unfortunately, the grizzly was able to catch one of the cubs. However, the sow and her other two cubs were able to get away. While it was an intense situation, Hunter was thrilled to be able to see and record it.
Hunter told the news outlet, "You don't run into them very often around here, so it was incredible to be right there watching him. To be right there and to catch it on video was kind of a crazy thing."