Alaska Woman Punches Bear in Snout to Save Dog

[dcbl]

JUNEAU, Alaska – Black bears in residential neighborhoods aren't exactly unheard of in Juneau. While many people stay inside when bears are about, one local woman says she had a different instinct when she saw her dog was in trouble.

It started out as a typical evening for 22-year-old Brooke Collins. She let her dogs out as usual but this time, she said there was a black bear outside who took hold of her dachshund Fudge.

She said she feared for her pet's life and, in an instant, ran over and punched the bear right in the face to make it let go.

"It was all so fast. All I could think about was my dog was going to die," said Collins.

"It was a stupid thing but I couldn't help it," she said. "I know you're not supposed to do that but I didn't want my dog to be killed."

Collins said she didn't see the bear outside when she let the dogs out around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

She said Fudge just darted out and the barking could be heard almost instantly. She said that barking was "the most horrible sound in the world."

Collins said when she looked outside she saw a bear was crouching down with Fudge in its paws and was biting the back of the dog's neck.

"That bear was carrying her like a salmon," she said.

She said she almost instinctively went up and did the first thing she thought of. She punched the bear's face and scooped away her dog when it let go.

It all happened too fast to really think about but she had flashes of hearing about how some animals will back off from a punch to the nose, she said.

wow

 

[Sallow]

Yeah..wow.

Stupid..but I would have done the very same thing for my pooch.

Brave girl.

 

[Claudette]

Brave girl indeed.

When I lived in Northern NH you had to watch out for blackbears as well. Had to take a good look around before I let the dogs out.