WATCH: Tourists Run From Bears in Yellowstone National Park

May 9, 2015

Nature got too close for comfort for sightseers at Yellowstone National Park who were chased by a mother bear.

The tourists were crowding her three cubs, causing her to chase the unsuspecting park visitors, as seen in a video released by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.

"These tourists were absolutely in danger," the park's communication and education program manager Bob Gibson told NBC News. "Black bears are usually shy of people. But you put them with their cubs and they get really protective. You never want to be between a bear and its cub."

Gibson also said that the encounter could have been deadly.

"Had they been the young of the year and 10 days old, the mom would have been all over the tourists,” Gibson said.

OR IF A GRIZZLY, COULD HAVE BEEN A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY