VIDEO: Grizzly Attacks Sow With Cubs Before Charging Tourists!

In Alaska, the guides at "Scenic Bear Viewing" are professional, well-trained wildlife experts who know how to deal with bears in the safest possible way, which is good, because otherwise, this video would be absolutely terrifying!

During a bear viewing trip, the "Scenic Bear Viewing" crew and a very lucky group of tourists witnessed a bear encounter that involved a total of seven, count 'em: seven grizzly bears. 

The video begins when a large grizzly boar suddenly charges a sow with two cubs.  Immediately mama grizzly intercepts the challenger and engages him.  But that's where things get really tense for our videographer, because there's another three grizzly's behind him: another sow with two cubs of her own.  Suddenly the bear rears up on its hind legs.  Uh oh. 

At this point the videographer switches his phone to still shots mode in order to get some snaps of the bear standing behind him.  This is where most people would void their bowels and curl into a ball, but our intrepid guide dispassionately takes some pictures.  

According to the Scenic Bear Guides, the sow standing on her hind legs is younger than the one fighting the boar.  What's she's doing is using the videographer and the group of onlookers as human shields, putting them between her and the bear fight a few yards away.  The standing bear is looking at the pitched battle in the field, not the humans.  The Scenic Bear Guides think she may be the daughter of the older sow, adding another layer of pathos to the scene. 

The older sow, having decades of experience with fighting and defending her young, holds the boar off until he decides its not worth the trouble. Only then does the younger sow emerge, leading her young to safety. 

See the video below: