Man Tackles 350-Pound Bear To Save His Dog's Life

A man in the US tackled a 350-pound bear in order to save his dog's life.

Kaleb Benham was at his home in Grass Valley, California, when he heard a strange noise coming from the garden.

After going out to inspect the weird sounds, he saw his pitbull Buddy being dragged along by a brown bear.

Speaking to CBS, Kaleb said: "I heard a growl, looked about 75-100 feet down, and the bear was dragging him by his head, had his head in his mouth.

"Honestly the only thing I could think of was 'save my baby'," Benham recalled.

"I just ran down there, plowed into the bear, tackled it and grabbed it by the throat and started hitting it in the face and the eye until it let go."

CBS

After pulling Buddy away from the powerful animal, Kaleb tried to get some help, but panicked when the first vet he called was closed, due to it being the night before Thanksgiving.

He said: "My first thought was that I was going to lose him."

Fortunately, the doting owner managed to find an animal hospital that was still open.

Buddy was rushed into surgery where he received staples, stitches, and had tubes inserted into his head to drain the fluid.

However, Kaleb now fears that the bear is waiting for Buddy to come out again.

He said: "I just stood there and watched through the window for three and a half hours.

Facebook

"It made an attack and had its food and its food got taken from it and it wants it back, I feel like."

But while some people may think he was stupid for trying to tackle a bear, Kaleb says he didn't even need to think about it.

He added: "If it was your kid, what would you do? That's my kid, I would die for my dog."

Following the attack, a GoFundMe page was set up by Benham's sister Katelyn, to try and raise money to help her brother pay for Buddy's vet bills.

At the time of writing it has managed to raise $2,278.

Calling on people to dig deep to help Kaleb and his best friend, Katelyn said: "Buddy is lucky to be alive but has many stitches and staples. Buddy means the world to Kaleb and is his best friend."

This comes after another dog owner jumped into a pond in Florida to fight off an alligator after it attempted to snatch his tiny pooch.

Topics: US News, Weird, Health

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom