A photographer in Yellowstone National Park captured the moment a “very foolish” man decided to taunt a pack of wolves.
The horrifying incident took place at the U.S. national park on the morning of October 6. Photographer Keith Allen Kerbs shared the footage to his Instagram page.
“I’m in Yellowstone most of this week to photograph the scenery and wildlife,” Kerbs writes. “So far, I’ve seen quite a bit which I’ll share soon but had to share this video I took this morning from a safe distance of a very foolish man and a pack of wolves.”
The video starts as the man is backing up with at least five wolves bearing down on him. Incredibly, the man squares up to the wolves and sprays what is presumably bear spray at them. People can be heard screaming at him to fall back.
“This could end very badly for that guy,” a fellow photographer says. “Yeah, you think?” Kerbs replies. The man disappears into a ravine while the gathered photographers express their disbelief, calling him a “knucklehead.” Kerbs notes on Instagram that the man “almost didn’t make it out alive.”
New video shows a man approaching a pack of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Keith Allen Kerbs recorded the footage on October 6, saying he was photographing the five black wolves when the man approached them.
The video shows the man spraying what he describes as bear spray… pic.twitter.com/gofjFRLsOL
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) November 18, 2025
Kerbs filmed the unfortunate episode on a 500mm lens and a 1.4x converter, giving him an effective 700mm focal length. He says he was roughly a mile from the action.
A spokesperson for the National Park Service tells People the incident “was reported to National Park Rangers at Yellowstone,” and that the man “was found and cited.” The incident remains under investigation.
The owner and operator of Yellowstone Wildlife Guide Company, Evan Stout, tells SFGate that the wolves in the video were pups born earlier this year. “They were curious,” he says. “It was probably their first-ever interaction with a human.”
On Yellowstone’s website, it says wolves “rarely pose a threat to people” but adds that “if they become too comfortable around humans, safety concerns can arise.” Maintaining wolves’ natural wariness of humans is a “key goal of Yellowstone’s wolf management.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.