Dennis Archer, who lives south of Superior, photographed this sow black bear with five cubs behind his home on July 1. "I couldn't believe it," Archer said. "I saw those bears. Two came out initially, and three came out later. I thought, "I'd better get my camera, or no one will believe me.'"
Archer said he watched the bears for five or six minutes. He had thrown some fish entrails in the area, and the bears were feeding on them.
Black bears do sometimes have as many as five cubs, but it's uncommon for them to have more than three, said Martha Minchak, assistant area wildlife manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Duluth.
"It's obviously a very healthy sow, probably in her prime reproductive years," Minchak said.
