BILLINGS - Last week in Yellowstone National Park a mother black bear and two cubs ambled down a greening hillside along the road to Tower Falls.
Instantly a line of cars and photographers swooped in creating what's known in Yellowstone as a bear jam. Before a ranger could arrive to direct traffic and keep people back, I snapped these photos with a long lens of a woman getting way too close for comfort to the mama bear and cubs. The woman finally stepped back either after getting her shot or because she was urged to move by a few people in the gathering crowd.
No animal is more dangerous than a mother who feels its offspring may be in danger. The risk the woman took is not only illegal in Yellowstone tourists are required to stay 100 yards from bears and wolves but also just plain ignorant.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/woman-shooting-photos-gets-too-close-to-yellowstone-mama-bear/article_ae83f0fa-b480-5a5b-9782-b1ab636d26d6.html