Viral bear video shows dark side of filming animals with drones

As drones become smaller and cheaper, experts urge people to use caution when flying near wild animals like this brown bear and her cub.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

That was the angle many news outlets took this week with a viral video of a brown bear mother and cub. Shot by Dmitry Kedrov this summer with a drone on the coast of Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk, the video shows a baby bear repeatedly climbing up and falling down a treacherous, snowy slope.

And though the video has a happy ending—the cub makes it to the top, and the duo walk off into the wilderness—numerous scientists have expressed concerns on social media about the way the video was shot.

For instance, at just over one minute into the video, the camera zooms extremely close to the bears. At the same time, the mother

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