Baby Bear Nibbles on Photographer’s Boot

A baby bear took a nibble at a photographer after becoming curious about his boot.

Wildlife photographer Bruce Robert Danz was in the Katmai Preserve in Alaska on August 2 with another shooter while capturing images of three cubs and a mama bear fishing.

But as is sometimes the case with wildlife photography, the bears wandered close to the humans; a little too close.

As the cubs emerged from the muddy river, the trio of inquisitive cubs walked past the two photographers.

Danz’s companion can be heard saying, “No bear, no bear” as the bears get too close for comfort. Then one of the cubs couldn’t resist the urge to investigate and started sniffing at Danz’s shoe.

The sniff turns into a nibble and Danz quickly pulled his foot away ever so slightly. “No bear, that’s my foot,” Danz says.

“Just moving my boot a little was enough to end the interaction and the cub fell back in line,” Danz tells Storyful.

Danz was on a photographic tour with Jerry Jacques, who has been leading grizzly bear photo safaris since 1977.

“We kept our distance, kept quiet and did not disturb the bears from fishing,” Danz says. “The bears were aware of our presence and occasionally would walk very close to us.”

“Jerry said we handled the situation perfectly by not causing alarm,” Danz adds. “Jerry suggested perhaps the cub was tired of salmon and wanted to try some filet of sole. I was not afraid, just intent on keeping quiet and not causing alarm.”

It’s the second time this summer that a photographer has had a close encounter with a grizzly bear in Katmai: photographer Matt Addington got within inches of a grazing grizzly bear, capturing some incredible close-up images.

Despite people joking that the bear was eating a salad while preparing for steak, Addington described it as “one of the more peaceful, serene, surreal moments that I’ve ever had.”

Similar to what happened to Danz, the bears were initially hundreds of yards away but naturally drifted over to where they were sitting, untroubled by human presence.

Katmai is home to 2,000 brown bears and at this time of year, they eat up to 120 lbs of grass a day to prepare for winter hibernation.