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Wildlife photographer Donald M. Jones was shooting photography in Denali National Park, Alaska in September of 2004 when he captured the story shown in the series of images below. Some wolves had killed a bull caribou when a sow grizzly with two cubs spotted them and chased them off the kill. Eventually, the wolves reclaimed their kill only to be chased off again by an even larger boar grizzly. We recently caught up with Jones to get a recap of the events leading up to the photos.

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A collared wolf and the alpha of the pack feed on caribou remains.

“I came over Stony Pass and around a bend, and I saw wolves and a grizzly bear and a caribou carcass down in the East Fork River,” he recalled. “The wolves had killed this bull caribou sometime the night before. This sow grizzly with these yearling cubs came along and took it over. She kept charging the wolves, and they stayed back a ways while she fed with the cubs.”

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The wolves likely made the kill in the first place.
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A sow grizzly with two yearling cubs feeding on the wolf-killed caribou carcass.

Jones said he watched from the side of the road with a small group of fellow photographers while the drama unfolded. He remained there for a full day and a half until the sow and her two cubs got their fill of caribou meat.

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A cub climbs on the caribou’s antlers while its mother feeds.
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Grizzlies are known for scavenging wolf kill sites.
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“Finally, the mother grizzly and her cubs left,” he said. “The wolves were elated. They came running back in to reclaim their kill. But they weren’t back on the carcass for more than a half hour when this big boar came running in from the other direction.”

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Wolves in Denali prey on moose, caribou, and Dall sheep.
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The big boar chased the wolves off of their kill for a second time.
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The incident took place on the East Fork River in Denali National Park.
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As Jones watched, the boar chased the wolf pack off once again and laid claim to what was left of the carcass. “He went and gathered all the body parts,” he said. “Then he put them all in a big pile and laid on top of it and went to sleep. It was quite the scene.”

Related: Grizzly Bear Backs Down Entire Wolf Pack After Stealing Elk Kill

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