When a black bear wandered into the back garden of Mark Stinziano’s house in West Milford, New Jersey, on Tuesday night, it was simply looking for a trouble-free meal.
But it did not reckon on a neighbor’s fearless dog. As the bear mooched up to a bird feeder at around 8 p.m., it spotted an opportunity and started to munch on the seeds.
As the bear was eating the seeds, it stopped to look up when it heard something.
It was the nine-year-old mixed labrador Riley, which belonged to a neighbor. The dog ran up to the bear which beat a hasty retreat and exited the yard.
The whole incident was captured on CCTV.
“My daughter said she saw a bear outside, so I went out and checked the footage on the camera and couldn’t believe it,” Stinziano said, according to Patch.com.
“It was the first time I’d ever seen Riley fight a bear off. He chased a bear up a tree before, but nothing like this,” he added.
The dog’s owner, Allan Tlusty, vouched for Riley’s bravery, saying, “I’m not surprised. He’s a fearless dog.”
In May, two black bears were caught on video fighting in the front yard of another home in , New Jersey. The bears appeared to be on their hind legs swatting and nipping at each other and were thought to be fighting over a female in Frankford township, Fox News reported.
New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does advise people to fight back when confronted by a black bear, which is the state’s biggest land mammal.
The animals were involved in more than 300 cases of property damage last year, and 218 cases so far this year.
The department pointed out that bears would often get into people’s garbage and advised people to properly secure waste. It also recommended people not to feed birds when bears are active in the area.
In March this year, the DEP targeted bear hunting protesters by introducing a rule change that would stop people accessing government records which allow people to identify, track, or locate bears, or other species, in the wild, NorthJersey.com reported.
