Florida man defends dog, gets bitten by bear cub on stomach because he couldn’t bear to see his dog get hurt

Last month, a man in Florida was bitten on the stomach by a black bear cub while he was attempting to intervene in a scuffle between the wild animal and his family’s pet dog. 

Blake Sprout recounted that his dog had started chasing the bear cub, which was in the vicinity of its mother and two other cubs, after he had let the dog out of his Volusia County residence around midnight on Dec. 20, as per FOX 35 Orlando.

“He growled and charged and just latched onto my stomach,” Sprout told the news outlet of the bear. 

Blake Sprout shows a bruise from a bear bite to his stomach. (WOFL)

Sprout said he intervened as Karen was being attacked because she’s “part of the family.”

“I couldn’t just sit there and watch her die. My kids love her,” he said. “I couldn’t just tell them at Christmas, ‘Our dog is gone.’”

The bears were later trapped by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and relocated. 

Blake Sprout holds his dog, Karen, after an attack by a young bear.  (WOFL)

“The FWC bear management team placed traps on the premises and successfully captured the trio of cubs along with the adult female bear, subsequently relocating the entire family unit,” the agency stated in a comment given to the media outlet. 

In Florida, it’s legal to shoot and kill a bear in self-defense or to defend certain property.