Here’s a new Rocky matchup for you: It’s Rocky the dog versus the bear!
Pictures snapped by the dog’s owner show the tense moments between a pet and the wild animal in Wolcott.
Animal control says they’ve never seen anything like it in town until now.
“Rocky tackled the bear. The bear was on his back, paws up and Rocky was on top of him,” Wolcott resident Laura Canby explained.
Her 60-pound pit bull named Rocky is nursing some wounds after taking on a several hundred pound black bear.
“I was very scared. He wasn’t listening and coming back. He was too busy protecting me and the girls,” Canby said.
Canby said it all began when she heard the garbage cans bang outside her home yesterday. As she walked out all of a sudden Rocky darted through the yard after a nearby bear, just as the school bus arrived to drop off Canby’s older daughter.
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“I freaked out and grabbed a shovel and started yelling at the school bus driver to keep the baby on the bus, don’t let her off,” Canby said.
That driver also called animal control.
“The bus reported that there was a dog and a bear incident going on, situation, and they weren’t comfortable with letting the child off the bus at that point,” Wolcott Animal Control Officer Roslyn Nenninger said.
Nenninger and police raced over, and the bear and dog eventually broke it off.
“DEEP just advised to let the bear go, leave it alone. And that the bear felt threatened, the dog was threatened. It’s pretty much an isolated incident at this time,” Nenninger said.
Rocky suffered some scratches and needed one staple and a rabies booster.
“It could have been a lot worse. We’re very lucky,” Canby said.
Canby plans to better secure her garbage. Animal experts say that’s a good idea, and recommend putting it in a garage if you can. This time of the year bears are scrounging for food before winter.
