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A Vermont woman says her dog saved her life after she was attacked by a black bear. Susan Lee of Strafford, Vermont, was walking along a trail on her property with her two dogs, Lucy, a Jack Russell terrier and her labradoodle, Bruce, when she lost sight of them. Lee, 61, called the dogs back and as they returned, she heard a loud noise and turned to see a black bear charging toward her. She tried to run away, but tripped over a stone wall, felt pain in her upper leg, and realized the bear had bitten her.
At this point, Lucy intervened and started barking at the bear. The bear turned its attention to Lucy, giving Lee a chance to escape and head back toward her house. Lucy caught up with her moments later and Bruce was waiting on the porch when they got back home. Lee contacted her neighbor, who drove her to a nearby hospital where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.
Game Warden Sergeant Jeffrey Whipple responded to the incident and says that attacks like this are rare and the bear was probably a female with cubs who was surprised by Lee and her dogs. He says he believes that if Lucy hadn’t been there, that the bear might have hurt Lee a lot worse. Normally when a bear attacks a human, the bear will be put down, but Whipple didn’t locate the bear right away and Lee asked that the bear be spared.