Woman Fends Off Bear With Zucchini

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

A Montana woman reportedly used a piece of zucchini to fend off a charging bear said to have attacked one of her dogs.

The woman was stirred after midnight by a tussle in the backyard of her home near Frenchtown, Missoula County Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Maricelli said. She went to investigate and found a 200-pound black bear attacking one of her two dogs, a 12-year-old collie.

The woman stood at her back door and screamed to divert the bear’s attention from the dog. She told police the bear then charged her.

“The bear growled and was very aggressive and tried to come inside of her back door,” Maricelli said. “She was able to stop the pursuing bear by improvising.”

The bear took a swipe at her with its paw and tore her jeans. The woman jumped back and grasped the nearest object on her kitchen counter inside the doorway — a 12-inch-long zucchini she had harvested earlier from her garden.

She flung the zucchini at the bear from a distance she estimated to be 3 feet. The vegetable bopped the bruin on the top of its head and the animal fled, Maricelli said.

State wildlife officials were searching for the bear on Thursday.

The woman received only minor scratches that did not require medical attention, though she was going to get a tetanus shot on Thursday as a precaution, Maricelli said. Police did not release her name.

The woman also planned to take her collie to the veterinarian. The dog didn’t appear to have any bite wounds, but was a bit shaky on Thursday, Maricelli said.

“I don’t know if it tried to bite him, but it rolled him around a little,” he said.

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MY TAKE: Ok, this has to be the most creative use of a zucchini I’ve ever heard of. I would think twice if I were this woman about what kind of doors she’s got on her house. If she’s gone with decorative glass doors and that bear is still out there, I’d be pretty scared. I would start shopping for some solid wood entry doors to keep that bear out.

On the other hand, she’s lucky she wasn’t hurt. I know of a story of a woman who was attacked by a bear on a camping trip and had to have Fort Walton FL cosmetic surgery. She flew from her trip in New York state to see a Panama City FL plastic surgeon after the attack and they were able to help her reconstruct the left side of her arm where she’d been attacked by the bear. She was lucky too.

These things don’t necessarily happen that often. You’re more likely to encounter a great white out on a Florida Keys fishing charter than be attacked by a bear. In fact, many Key West Florida sport fishing trips typically are more dangerous, but if you do live near a wooded area where bears are sighted, keep in mind: water is scarce right now and so is food supply.

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