These grizzly bear siblings seem to be old enough to fish on their own but they appear to be waiting for something to happen. It could be the lack of salmon in the river or that other larger dominant bears have moved then to the sidelines. It could be perspective on my part in that when you do not have another bear use for size comparison maybe they are just very fat two year olds waiting for mother to provide another meal. However at two they should be fishing because next year they would normally be on their own. At times the cubs stay with mother more than two years and if she is not pregnant cubs may stay with their mother for four years.
Early August and the family is busy on the beach. The Lodge’s grizzly bear tours travel up Knight Inlet to the area of the Glendale River estuary. The grizzly bears are in the area waiting for the salmon, which return to the river in late August to spawn. From mid May on the bears start to appear along the shores of Knight Inlet working their way to the mouth of the river until September there may be close to fifty bears feeding on the salmon in the Glendale River valley. Well the bears wait they must eat and therefore spend time on the beach turning over rocks at low tide and grazing on the protein rich sedge grass along the shore. This mother grizzly has her two-year-old cubs well trained to feed themselves. Self-sufficiency is necessary to survive, as it will likely be there last year under mother’s protection and care.
