Florida Teen Recounts Escaping Bear Attack with Dog’s Help
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iStock/Thinkstock(EASTPOINT, Fla.) — Leah Reeder credits her dog with saving her life.
The 15-year-old was walking her dog, Ralph, near her home in Eastpoint, Florida, Sunday, when she was attacked by a black bear.
“I was down on the ground, and ended up on my face,” she told ABC News. “The bear was on my back biting me.”
Leah says her springer spaniel scared away the bear, coming to the teen’s aide and causing the bear to lose its grip. But Leah still wasn’t sure she was safe.
“I waited long enough that it didn’t come back, maybe a minute,” she said.
She managed to walk to her father’s house, and paramedics were called.
Leah endured hours of surgery after the attack, receiving hundreds of stitches for the wounds to her neck, head, back and arms. But she was able to eat Christmas dinner with her family, something for which the family was thankful.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is working to catch the bear responsible for the attack. The incident marks the latest in a spate of bear attacks in central Florida, with six fatalities nationwide in 2014.
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