Talk about an unexpected event: A grizzly bear was documented pursuing and capturing a young cow along a winding road in Wyoming.
The wild moment was caught on camera by an outdoorsman on his way to a fishing trip in Crandall, Wyoming, a town near Yellowstone National Park.
The video shows the bear chasing the frightened cow across the road before the grizzly finally attacks the animal, taking it down.
Watch the video below…
[WARNING: Not for sensitive viewers]
Grizzly bears will sometimes kill livestock. They’re hungry predators unaware of human-imposed boundaries, after all. Ranchers are actually well compensated by the government when their livestock are attacked or killed by wild animals like grizzlies, wolves, or mountain lions. Ranches like those near Yellowstone are particularly vulnerable to such attacks, and revenue — mainly from hunting licenses — generally covers such losses. Wyoming compensates ranchers for livestock losses by paying 3.5 times the market value for livestock killed by predators, according to Montana Public Radio. One Wyoming rancher was just awarded an unbelievable $340,000 for his reported losses.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds as apex predators — like the grizzly bear — bounce back to normal population levels in areas where humans, domestic animals, and livestock now inhabit.
