The Facebook group Yukon Wildlife Cams recently shared some confusing footage of an iconic northern animal.
"I'll be honest, I'm not sure what is going on here for the most part. I've never seen similar behavior from a grizzly," wrote the original poster. "This series of clips begins with a peculiar reaction from a grizzly that quickly moves in to remove the rain cover from my camera (you can hear the velcro separating).
"It then paws several times at the camera but my method of connecting cams to trees proves superior. It then picks up the rain cover and appears to 'play' with it before lumbering into the night."
Majestic as it is to see a grizzly bear up close, the footage does speak to a larger problem. Trail cameras are a low-profile means of monitoring the health of wildlife populations that are either evasive or too dangerous to approach personally. The data gathered by these cameras can help inform local conservation efforts.
This instance shows that even an unassuming trail camera can elicit curiosity in wildlife, shaping its behavior. Human activity can scare animals away from useful habitats. If the trail camera perturbed this grizzly bear enough, it may not return and lose feeding and mating opportunities in the area.
Animals of all kinds are already having a hard time getting by amid habitat degradation caused by industrial deforestation, agriculture, and wildfires. As human settlement expands, it also pushes people into closer proximity with these animals.
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When natural habitats provide fewer necessary resources and people provide explicit or inadvertent food incentives, beasts like grizzly bears can start roaming human areas for trash to eat. With greater exposure to people, bears can develop too much familiarity and become more aggressive once they learn that humans carry (and are themselves) food. These situations can often lead to bears being euthanized.
By protecting habitat and securing garbage, it's possible to ensure grizzly bears continue to live happy lives fulfilling vital ecosystem roles.
Facebook followers couldn't believe their eyes when watching the trail camera footage of the agitated grizzly bear.
"This happens to a lot of our cameras from our coastal black bears," wrote one community member. "They hear the click and smell it. They treat it as a threat and a new smell in their marked territories they will engage. Looks like this guy got spooked and left without wanting to turn his back."
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"So interesting, especially the way he finally backed away but wouldn't turn his back on the camera," replied another.
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