I loved this brief encounter with an adorable grizzly cub beneath the safety of its mother earlier this summer. Cute? Absolutely! Yet bears live a challenged and difficult life, fraught with inherent danger and the continuous struggle for survival in the natural world. When you combine that with increasing and often deadly interface with humans – including vehicular collisions and exposure to unnatural food sources that can lead to habituation and conflict — you end up with increased mortality for grizzlies, especially among young bears. Please be mindful of this if you’re visiting or live in bear country
Charlie Lansche is a landscape and wildlife photographer residing in Island Park, Idaho.