This summer has already seen its share of bear attacks, so we can’t argue with anyone’s urge to avoid face-to-face encounters with our favourite forest dwellers.
But if you’re still in need of a bear fix, there’s no need to trek out into the B.C. wilderness—or to stand on your deck wafting your barbecue towards the woods. Thanks to Explore.org‘s Katmai National Park and Preserve bear cams, you can get a close look at the brown bears inhabiting remote Alaska from anywhere in the world.
Watch the Katmai bears in action here.
This year’s initiative features eight web cams, which are set up at various points throughout Katmai to live-stream the bears’ daily habits. The camera locations include Brooks Falls, where you can watch multiple bears wading in the water and waiting to snatch a fresh salmon swimming upstream, as well as an underwater cam that shows close-ups of the bears’ feet in the river, or of their heads as they dive for fish.
Katmai boasts nearly 70 brown bears within a single square mile, so chances are good that you’ll catch one—or upwards of 10—in action. And with the site’s social sharing tools, you can snap pictures of what you see and share them with other bear lovers.
Here’s a peek at some of the stars.
Images courtesy of Explore.org.