Nor is she likely to charge any of the 20-plus onlookers who've assembled nearby, video cameras rolling. Alt has other reasons for doing everything possible to hold her back in her nest. Alt's helpers, Jake Stunzi and David Christopher, are sturdy roadblocks posted at the sides of this den, which happens to be in a crawl space under concrete block steps leading to the front door of a house. Alt is concerned about the cubs he hears. He checks his watch and decides it's time to dose her again.
Some bears are more resistant to the drugs than others.
He gets a good shot off, hitting her in the left shoulder. Suddenly, she tries to exit stage left. Again, she is intimidated without any show of aggression. She is a young mother, Alt guesses, about 4 years old. Oddly enough, she has denned in this same exact spot two years in a row.