Seeing a mother bear nursing cubs in Yellowstone changed how I understand bear families

At Humane World for Animals, we work to protect wild species of many kinds from trophy hunting and lethal predator control programs. Bears stand at the center of this campaign, as the targeting of black bears by trophy hunters in the U.S. has increased in recent years, and there is an ongoing fight over whether grizzly bears should maintain federal Endangered Species Act protections. Here, Wendy Keefover, senior strategist of native carnivore protection at Humane World for Animals, discusses her love for bears and the many reasons we should come together to protect these animals. 

A few years ago, in springtime, my partner and I were visiting Yellowstone National Park when we ventured into a semi-remote area where the road had been closed off to vehicles. There we found a group of photographers with camera lenses as long as telescopes pointing in the distance. When we looked in that direction, we saw a mother black bear and her two playful yearling cubs. 

As we watched them interact, three hours passed. We were enthralled. The rambunctious, playful cubs ran and nipped at each other and their mother at one moment, and the next they were sprinting up a tree, grabbing the bark with their claws. Then, in a moment of tenderness, they were nursing, and when they were full, they nestled into a snuggly interconnected ball. It was magical. 

Those moments made me realize something: Bears are infinitely patient, devoted and vigilant mothers—traits that many people may not associate with these animals. Typically, black bear mothers wean their cubs at around 9 months, but I learned later from a park biologist that those yearling cubs were underweight and so their mother was nursing them for longer than usual—these cubs were likely about 20 months old. I already knew that bear mothers spend prolonged periods raising and nurturing young and that bear cubs learn foraging styles from their mothers. But seeing those interactions in person brought this knowledge home to me in a new way. My emotional connection to bears and to our efforts to protect them deepened after seeing how devoted this mother bear was to her family.