Posted on 12/28/2020 11:23:55 AM PST by SJackson
A black bear attacked a woman and her two dogs in Collier County on Christmas Eve morning.
Kathleen Boyle said Friday that her two dogs, one ironically named Bear, and her other pup, Robin, helped save her from a bear they ran into on their morning walk in the Fiddler’s Creek community.
“It wasn’t until probably 11:30, 12 o’clock that I stopped shaking,” Boyle said. “Because it was that trauma, ‘I can’t believe this just happened.’”
Boyle’s two Westies are show dogs, but they didn’t worry about manners when a bear approached them and their owner.
“So here you’ve got an 18-pound terrier who’s going to defend his master against a 400-pound bear,” Boyle said.
She was walking her terriers on their leashes down her street when she saw two bear cubs. She knew that meant their mom wasn’t far away, so she ran.
“I only made it 20, 30 paces,” Boyle said. “[Bear] turned around and starts going back toward the cubs. I turned around and realized that the mama bear was coming after us.”
During the 15-minute attack, both dogs fought. First, it was Bear who put up a defense.
“He went into her belly and bit her belly and started attacking her, so she came after him,” Boyle said. “She on all fours picked him up in her mouth and drove him to the ground, bit him.”
Then, Robin stepped in.
“The bear was up on her hind legs and so [Robin] ran into her legs and bit her belly,” Boyle said.
And then Boyle fought back too.
“I started punching her and she, distracted, looked at me,” Boyle said. “It was just a fight or flight, and it just kicked in, and it was just my own mom bear came out like, ‘Not on my shift. You’re not taking my dog away.’”
Eventually, both dogs ran off.
“So now the bear only has one person to go after, and it’s me,” Boyle explained. “I would back up five paces and move forward a little bit punching at her. She just didn’t stop.”
That’s when Boyle was saved.
“A biker was coming this direction. He saw it was happening,” Boyle said. “He yelled, so between the two of us yelling, she got scared and ran away.”
Boyle credits the bicyclist and her two pups for saving her life.
“If it weren’t for the biker, I don’t know what the outcome would’ve been,” Boyle said. “They’re just heroes; if it weren’t for him responding, the bear would’ve come up behind us and taken one or all of us out.”
Bear, the terrier, did have some injuries.
“He has puncture wounds on his neck; he was in extreme pain yesterday,” Boyle said. “He has a lot of soft tissue damage, even though he looks fine.”
Kathleen and her husband, Donald, hope what everyone takes away from this story is that you have to be careful around wildlife, especially baby bears.
Meanwhile, tiny heroes will be getting a lot of love for the remainder of Christmas.
“So very spirited and getting lots of hugs,” Boyle said.
Great post, tks.
And, yes, dogs are expert time keepers. We have to adjust schedules gradually in preparation for savings time clock changes. They are NOT fooled by it.
Thank you, Eska! Your story is sobering and I take your advisement seriously. After you mentioned it, I certainly noticed that the bears have their favorite times of day to start sniffing around here. Makes me wonder why the previous owners said “yes” so quickly to our low offer. Anyway, thank you for sharing that. I’ll certainly be wiser come this 3rd season.
THAT would be fun to see! Did you get any pics, by chance? Thanks for sharing. What state do you live in?
Ha ha ha! I think I misworded that. Ha! Now you’ve got me thinking! Yikes!
The dogs look just like my little girl. But mine would be running looking for a bed to hide under
.45 ACP, two,13 round, magazines for bears and gators.
He is what you do when you encounter a bear....
You just slap them around.
https://i.imgur.com/Miit8.gif
Man Fights Bear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84bBzAxLXFY
We have black bears in northern NJ. My oldest brother lives in Sparta, which is in Sussex County. He’s a former Marine and keeps a number of fire arms handy. He learned early on never to leave the garage door open.
He’s lived in Sparta some thirty years. His house is on a cul-de-sac and is on about two acres of property with woods all around. First year he was living there his daughter, who was five at the time said “Daddy there’s a big dog in the garage!’’.
Bro poked his head in, grabbed his daughter, went back in the house and grabbed his .45 and blasted the bruin in the butt with one round. He said that thing flew out of the garage and off into the woods.
“I seen bear hounds ripped really bad with just short contact with a bear.”
Talked with a bear hunter once who was out running his dogs in the forest. Showed me his prized dog and told me about the time a bear got a hold of it and ripped off its jaw which was hanging by a thread of flesh. Said it cost him $4,000 at the vet to have it put back together.
“She is in FL no reason for going unarmed.”
If you look at a google satellite map of the Naples area there are many subdivisions that sprawl out towards the East into the Big Cypress area. Out of staters retire there with no clue they are moving into a wildlife refuge.
Vet bills are not cheap.
Any bear that I see around my farm more than once a year gets a dirt nap upon second sighting.
Got tired of paying the vet bills for my dogs, having to rebuild the livestock pens and the chicken coops.
Most importantly neither my wife or I can outrun a bear.
2 338 Lapua rounds placed in the correct location takes care of the problem permanently.
always double tap!
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