A woman socked a black bear in the nose last week after it chased her dog out of the woods and into the yard of her Maine home, according to officials.
Lynn Kelly was tending to her garden in Porter, Maine, on Friday when her dog began barking and ran into the forest, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife told USA Today.
Ms. Kelly, 64, followed behind until she saw her pup darting back toward her home — with a black bear in hot pursuit
Wildlife officials said that Ms. Kelly confronted the bear by standing up “as tall as she could” and then punching the creature in the nose.
“It just kept coming closer, so I had to fight him off because I wasn’t going to run from him because I know they’ll catch you,” Ms. Kelly told WHDH in Boston. “I tried to give him a punch.”
The black bear countered by biting Ms. Kelly’s right hand and wounding her wrist, but the animal then retreated back into the forest.
She was treated at the hospital for shallow puncture wounds to her wrist.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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