Dog Stops Bear Attack on Florida Teen

A 15-year-old Panhandle girl’s dog gets the credit for stopping a vicious black bear attack Saturday night.

The incident unfolded in Franklin County as Leah Reeder, 15, was out taking her dog for a walk, WCTV reported. The dog spotted the bear before the girl, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported. It began barking just before the creature knocked the teen into a ditch.

The girl’s mother, Sherry Mann said her daughter remembered to “play dead,” according to MyPanhandle.com. As she did, the dog lunged at the bear, forcing it to retreat into the woods.

Reeder suffered severe injuries to her face, ear and scalp. The bear had just begun trying to drag her away as the dog stepped in, WCTV reported.

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“It was very, very bad,” the Northwest Florida Daily News quoted Mann as saying.

Reeder underwent plastic surgery on Sunday.

Authorities from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are still trying to locate the bear. Saturday’s attack was the third in the region in 2014, WCTV noted.

Earlier this month, a black bear was blamed for sparking a fatal chain-reaction crash in South Florida.

There are an estimated 3,000 black bears living in the Sunshine State today, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Although the bears are no longer on the state-threatened species list, they remain protected by Florida law.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission