Good NewsMom sees bear attack family dog, chases it away with toy sword
Mom to the rescue.
Northampton, Massachusetts mother-of-two Karen Curran saw a bear attack her family's 9-year-old golden retriever, Lilly, outside their home last Wednesday evening. The family was going out, and Lilly bounded out the front door in anticipation of a car ride only to meet the bear near the porch.
With little time to act, Curran grabbed a toy wooden sword and started screaming as she banged the sword against a nearby stone wall until it broke.
"My wife, very bravely, grabbed the sword and just started swinging it and scaring the bear," Curran's husband, Joe, told CBS 3 Springfield.
The 250-pound bear, apparently protecting nearby cubs, stopped mid-attack.
"When the bear let go of the dog it definitely glanced at me," Curran said, adding that the bear and cubs then left the property.
"That bear would have killed my dog if I wasn't there," Curran said.
Curran added that if she had left the house before Lilly, she would have been the attack victim instead.
Lilly was held overnight at a local veterinary hospital where she was treated for puncture wounds to her head and neck. Curran says the dog is expected to fully recover.
"I was really excited to see that she was doing well," said Sam, the Currans' 11-year-old son.
Lilly's survival makes her one of the few lucky ones to survive bear attacks in the area.
"In the Northampton city limits, we've had at least three, perhaps four in the last five years and two of those dogs were killed," said Ralph Taylor with the Connecticut Valley Wildlife District.
