In Orange City, Florida, Blake Sprout was bitten in the stomach last month by a black bear while trying to rescue his small dog from a bear cub.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the incident occurred on December 20 around midnight, after Blake let his Pomeranian, Karen, outside in the family’s backyard. The moment he opened the door there were four bears – the mother and her three cubs, and although he yelled for his dog to come back, Karen started to chase the bears.
Moments later, one of the bear cubs attacked and grabbed the dog in his mouth, but Sprout wasn’t going to let the bear kill his dog. And as he threw rocks at the cub, hit the bear in the chest and Karen wiggled loose, the bear bit the man in the stomach.
Karen needed stitches and her beloved owner had to go through rabies shots to make sure he was okay.
The FWC were able to trap the bears and have since relocated the entire family after setting traps. In Florida, it is legal to kill a bear in self defense to to defend certain property. The mother bear nor the other two cubs were involved in the attack.
We can only plead with people to make sure their trash is tightly sealed, and no food is left out. Bears are lazy, and will take advantage of easy ways to find food. Bears have been pushed out of their territories because of urban growth and less forests – let’s all respect and protect our wildlife. Anyone living in rural areas or where forests are close by have to be extra vigilant for bearing sightings.
Anyone who would like to report someone harming bears or feeding them or a bear sighting is asked to call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922.
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