Beagle Gives His Life to Save Owner from Bear

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This story has been updated with additional details.

In the end, Max didn’t make it.

But his final moments won’t soon be forgotten by a northern Michigan man, who credits the adult male beagle with saving his life, MLive.com, UpNorthLive.com and WWTV report.

Outsized in a David vs. Goliath-sized standoff near Cadillac in Haring Township, the 8-year-old Max stood between his master, Jeff Hanna, and a charging bear Monday night.

“Max never had a prayer against that bear,”Hanna told WWTV. “It was quick.”

Hanna and his wife, Renee, were watching a movie when their other dog, Pete, began barking. Hanna said he knew something was wrong and went outside with a flashlight to investigate.

Some bird feeders had been torn down, but Hanna said he didn’t see the bear. He went back inside and returned to the movie.

Then, when he let the dogs outside for a bathroom break about 11:30 p.m., he saw source of the earlier commotion.

“I spotted a bear coming around the shed ... and … I could tell it was charging,” he told the TV station. “I just yelled, ‘Get out! Get out! It’s here!’ ”

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Max stood between them, jumping at the bear. The bear went for the Max’s throat. Max wasn’t killed by the bear, but the injuries were so severe that the Hannas made the decision to have him euthanized.

“We think he was defending me,” Hanna told UpNorthLive.com. “I do know that if that dog wouldn’t have been there it probably would have been me cause she come around and I don’t think she knew what was over there she was just defending.”

He said Max was “probably the best dog that a person could have. He was quiet, laid around most of the time, but he loved kids.”

Hanna said telling his and Renee’s grandchildren that Max died will be difficult.

“He always sounded like a train running around the house playing with these kids,” Hanna said. “... He just loved kids.”

The bear, it turns out, was protecting her family as well. She was still in the driveway when police arrived, their lights flashing and sirens blaring, then climbed a tree.

When the sirens were quieted and the lights dimmed, the bear climbed down from the tree, followed by three cubs, and ambled to a nearby wooded area.

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Michigan Department of Natural Resources file photo