When camping out in the wild, there’s always the risk of coming across a bear or two during your stay. And while most bears are actually pretty harmless and tend to steer clear of people, every so often, an aggressive bear will make itself known. These situations can be life-threatening, especially if you’re not used to dealing with bears.
But when one family from Halibut Cove came across a black bear who seemed to be stalking them as they camped in Kachemak Bay State Park, they had no idea that their brave German Shepherd named Sally was going to put herself between them and the bear, and risk her life to save their own.
Luckily, Sally went on to make a full recovery, and the family urge people to be aware of bears when they are out in the wilderness.
The Bates family was hiking the Glacier Moraine Trail in Kachemak Bay State Park when they were faced with a hungry black bear. Sadly, a low berry yield and a disappointing salmon return in the park has caused bears to begin to starve. And while most bears don’t usually get close to humans, the desperation of being starving hungry can lead to an attack.
The family knew a lot about bears.
The Bates family were keen hikers and had encountered bears many times while camping in the wilderness. As the black bear came closer, they protected themselves by forming a group, as well as shouting and waving their arms, which will usually intimidate the bear. But in this case, the bear just came at them all the more quicker.
As the bear approached a nail-biting five feet away, one of the Bates family members did something truly incredible.
“We had one of our dogs, she was just by my side, and went and put herself right in between the bear and our son, because the bear was obviously going to pounce on our son,” Mom Weatherly said.
The heroic dog’s name was Sally, and she was a keen hiker herself, having taken part in the family’s camping trips since she was just a puppy. The brave pooch simply stood and looked at the bear, blocking its path to Weatherly’s son. But still, the bear wouldn’t retreat, and then the worst thing possible happened.
The bear jumped towards Sally and tackled her.
“It started biting her and she was yelping and it had her by the head and in all the chaos our dog on the leash, he ran and started fighting with the bear also,” Weatherly said.
The family felt sympathy for the starving bear, but when faced with a situation where the two dogs were sure to die, they had to make a quick decision.
“We had a gun in our backpack and my husband was able to get it out of my bag and ran over and he started kicking the bear, trying to get it to release our dog,” Weatherly recalled. “And, he finally got a clear shot. I was just like, ‘please you have to, we have to kill this bear. It’s gonna kill our dog.’”
Thankfully, Weatherly’s husband managed to put the bear down, and their attention immediately turned to Sally. The brave dog had been left with a lot of puncture wounds from where the bear had been biting her head, so the family took her urgently to the vets.
The vet said Sally was going to be fine.
Amazingly, Sally’s injuries were assessed, and the vet didn’t find anything serious. The “super tough” dog was going to recover from her injuries in no time. Weatherly and her family will be forever grateful for the brave dog who saved their lives, and we’d bet Sally was rewarded with lots of treats after her ordeal.
“It brings tears to our eyes that she did that for us, because I have no doubt if she hadn’t put herself in between us and the bear that it could have really hurt one of my kids or one of us,” Weatherly said.
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