Wildlife Photography How To

Here’s a harrowing wildlife video with a (spoiler alert) happy ending that went viral today. If you haven’t seen it yet, we've embedded it below. It shows a mother bear and her cub trying to reach the top of a snowy slope. It also offers an important lesson about drone operators not flying their drones too close to wildlife scenes.

Here’s what the Sun, which was one of multiple media outlets that shared the video today, has to say about it.

“It was almost snow-go for a cute – and determined – cub which gamely tried to follow its mum up a steep and extremely slippery snow-covered slope. Video footage of the plucky young animal shows the creature refusing to have a melt-down, despite repeatedly sliding down the powdery surface. It starts by showing the pair clambering over a rocky patch of ground as the mum guides her young cub towards the top of the mountain. Both animals initially slide down the slope, but the mother quickly regains her footing and makes it to the ridge, where she waits for the cub to join her.”

As you’ll see in the clip, it appears several times that the cub is not going to make it but we’re happy to report that the persistent little furball perseveres and eventually makes it to the top. The most harrowing moment, however, is when the drone filming the scene gets too close, which appears to startle the mother bear, causing the cub to lose its grip and slide down again.

Remember: when capturing wildlife with your camera or drone, stay as far away from the scene as you can. It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature!

Via The Sun