“What? A Brown Bear Attacked A Moose in Your Driveway?”
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 9th, 2007
Expect the unexpected. There is nothing cryptozoological about this footage, which you will hear a lot about in the news today. But it is a good example of how a Bigfoot might show up on your next camping trip – or in your back yard. You need to be prepared.
Part One.
Part Two.
Part Three.
Homer, Alaska – Odd sounds outside their home woke Gary and Terri Lyon early Sunday morning (May 6, 2007), so Gary got up to check it out. He looked outside and saw a 500-pound grizzly bear killing an adult moose in their driveway.
“I saw this wildlife spectacle of a full-grown brown bear on a moose and the moose fighting for its life,” Gary said.
The couple put their dog inside, grabbed their cameras and started filming the attack as the grizzly battled the moose down the driveway, finally killing it…
“She tore apart the chest cavity, ripped out the heart and ate it,” Gary said. “It was like she knew that’s what kept it alive.”
Only a few mouthfuls later, the bear left the carcass and ran into the woods.
The Lyons contacted authorities, who sent state wildlife biologist Thomas McDonough to remove the dead moose. He brought it a half-mile down the road and contacted a chartity to harvest the meat. But he suspected the bear would return.
The prediction was right. The bear returned later that night, judging by the fresh tracks found Monday morning (May 7, 2007). The Lyons are now locking their doors, trying to avoid a more dangerous confrontation.“I’ve lived here for almost 30 years, and I’ve never had to shoot anything out of defense of property,” Gary said. “It was just doing its own thing that the species has done forever. Unfortunately, it was in our yard.”Associated Press, May 9, 2007
The following video, which you may have seen before, is included for psychological relief after the above three.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I have seen similar stuff when I lived in Yellowstone National Park. Grizzlies would often drag elk carcasses over roads and sometimes into peoples yards.
It’s a shame for the moose that the bear just didn’t go for the pin and left it at that…
This makes me simultaneously homesick and hungry.
hey loren thats great videofootage of a brown bear attacking a moose. thanks bill.
You expect me to believe that? Look how they cut out right at the crucial point. And how the bear doesn’t even try to get in the boat and pretend to motor around for a bit. What bear wouldn’t want to at least do that?
Other than that, nice acting by the four people in the suits.
But the zippers are obvious. HOAX!
That latest trifle having been disposed with, let’s move on the the true-life adventures of Fisherman West. That’s the most convincing bear costume I’ve ever seen if it’s a costume. I’m thinking not. That looked too real. Those are Actual Kung-Fu Moves.
If it’s a costume, done THAT well, in 2007, suddenly Patterson-Gimlin looks very, very, VERY, VERY! shaky.
(Sheesh.)
(But seriously, cool clips. All of ’em.)
Reminds me of the problem I had with bears getting in my shed. I would run out and chase them but they would just go so far into the brush and wait for me to go away. An hour later I was chasing them again.
Unfortunately I had to store my trash in that shed and then twice a month I would take it to the dump. More than once I had to pick up garbage strewn about after the 400lb male would rip my shed door off.
I tried hot sauce and windex to get rid of them. I think what finally did it (if I remember correctly) was a balloon filled with ammonia hung on the shed door.
I’ve lived in Kodiak and Anchorage, (and been to Homer many times… not that there’s much to see there), and I think I’m with the poster that said that homesickness is the primary reaction to this “news.” I’ve got so many unbelieveable bear stories… 🙂
Truth is stranger than fiction, as they say, and if definitive proof of Bigfoot or some other cryptid ever does emerge, it’s just as likely to arise from this kind of impossible coincidence as it is to be the result of studious, meticulous, “professional” cryptozoological efforts.
Wow, that is really amazing! Interesting clips!
Alaska-boy…I’d love to hear and swap some of those stories anytime, no matter how homesick they make me. And I do agree with your assessment that we have about as good a chance at seeing a BF by pure luck as we do by pursuing it as we have been.
dogu4/Alaska-boy: the statistical proof is before us.
People who didn’t think the sasquatch existed, or at least not where they lived, and had no idea they were going to run across one:
thousands.
People hunting for them:
Um, Patterson. But that’s still a wide margin there.
This will make animal rights activists fur-ious at grizzlies.
I’d like to see film footage of a Grizzly and Sasquatch battling it out .
That Yogi and Bullwinkle…what a couple of cut-ups.
That’s Amazing footage. I found this statement interesting “She tore apart the chest cavity, ripped out the heart and ate it,” Gary said. “It was like she knew that’s what kept it alive.” This statement reminds me of the stories I’ve read about how full grown elks have been found with their necks or backs broken and the liver was the only thing missing. It’s said that the elks are killed by Bigfoot, because the neck or the back is broken in a way that a bear or cougar couldn’t do. The stories come from the Pacific Northwest.
Anyway, that footage is great. It’s weird that the bear either didn’t seem to care that it was being watched or was only thinking about food.
Oddly enough this is exactly the kind of video that may eventually prove the bigfoot sightings reported throughout this continent. Imagine something like this showing a bigfoot rooting through garbage or something similar.
it is an interesting thought to think that in the end it may be an amateur couple with a camcorder to prove bigfoot’s existence instead of hundreds of dedicated BF hunters that have sought BF their whole lives.
Wow. That is completely amazing video.
I like getting away from it all — but not sure I’d want to be far enough away for that to happen in my driveway! Different strokes, I s’pose.
Sure does highlight the randomness of seeing unusual things — including BF.
Maxsideburns: I wish a better photo of BF would prove its existence though I’m skeptical. I’m skeptical because no matter how realistic the pic or vid is it will be dismissed as a hoax unless the context is compelling. Really, the notion that the reason BF isn’t proven is because there has yet to be a nice crisp Nat Geo quality pic is probably not true. I think the reason “science” doesn’t pursue the question of the existence of BF (with a few serious exceptions) is because the scientific context is so weak, which reflects the amateur’s understanding. Until research and evidence reinforce each other in the scientific context, the ability of genuine well-funded research to procede is poor. In the mean time, keep your cellphone camera handy and ready for anything.
Bob Michaels- It is interesting that you mention a fight between a sasquatch and a grizzly bear. Although I don’t think we would ever see one, there is a show here in Japan that creates simulated battles as you describe. They will use computer programs to simulate the physical abilities of different animals, then use the data to create computer generated fights between, say a polar bear and an alligator, or a gorilla versus a tiger, even fights between different prehistoric creatures based on fossil data. It is a silly concept, but from what I can tell, it is done in a very scientific manner and the simulations are accurate. I find it entertaining. I’m sure that a battle between a sasquatch and bear could be created with their technology. Might need to speculate a bit on the sasquatch’s physical statistics, though. 🙂
mystery_man: why not schedule several bouts? The griz could fight
1. A juvenile (wily, lots of moves, but a bit on the small side);
2. A female (likely the involvement of breasts could provide – and speculatively draw on – all kinds of interesting data for human females involved in contact sports like, say, boxing, wrestling or judo) :-D;
3. A classic large male, 8-9 feet tall.
Yes, we’d be presuming, I’d think, what the anecdotal evidence says about speed, strength and agility. They’re pretty consistently reported. And of course, judging by a lot of the TV programming I have wind of from there, a Japanese audience would be interested in assessing the outliers:
4. A 16-foot purple sas with telepathy and orb capabilities.
BugMO: saw this of yours:
“It’s weird that the bear either didn’t seem to care that it was being watched or was only thinking about food.”
I was thinking about that video today, and that bear is doing a LOT of thinking about ALL angles of the situation. In fact, it’s body language reveals a complex internal dialogue which I will attempt to summarize:
A moose holy COW a moose. And it looks takeable: I may get one or two things like this a year. For a human this is a Caribbean cruise spread. But it’s on their territory. This is NOT good; this is like a human coming across me and this moose on a trail in my neighborhood. Humans are unpredictable, and stupid. You don’t know what they’ll do. But I can’t let this opp pass. Any of ’em around? hmmmmmm…..let’s try it, let’s go….OK, it’s down. I can’t cover it up or guard it, not here, no way. Let’s try to drag it out of here, see if I can manage that. Whew. No way. I’m starving; I NEED TO EAT. But not here, I can’t eat here. I can’t believe I’m gonna have to leave this here; but I can’t protect it, or myself, here. I gotta go. I really have to. OK, suck it up, sometimes you win sometimes you lose…[sigh]…let’s go….damn…..NO WAY CAN I LEAVE THAT! That’s the best food I’m getting this year. GOTTA go back, OK, going back now….maybe just a bite or two. Let’s get something good, eat the best first with something like this….mmmm, that’s good, wish my stomach wasn’t doing cartwheels…can’t do this, this is like eating with one of their boomsticks at my head, dammit dammit DAMMIT, I gotta go now….
Trust me. Everything I see and read says this.
DWA- Seems pretty right on. If the bear was hungry enough and didn’t see the videographer as a threat, then I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t ignore them, especially if this specimen is acclimated to humans at all. There are bears in areas where they see humans enough that they show very little concern about us. Then again, it could be because this video is a HOAX! 🙂 Joking!
mystery_man: funny thing. When I wrote that I wasn’t even considering the high (near certain) likelihood that the bear knew the two humans were there, and that its calculations included “do they look like I can trust them….?”
DWA- Oh! Well, I guess that part was more of a response to what BugMO said about it not paying attention to the people watching it.
Notice how the camera stays steady and doesn’t jerk around all over the place. Pay attention, people, that is how to take a video when you come across a sasquatch. The subject is clearly what is claimed. Then again, I’m not sure how steady the camera would be if this was an 8 foot tall hominid in the guy’s front yard instead of a bear.
Mystery man, a three way tag or bite match between a Sumo, Big Foot and a Japanese Brown Bear, go do it.
Note to self: Quit feeding the moose, might attract bears.