A man was mauled by a bear just steps away from the front door of his Florida home.
“I came outside and he was right there, and I tried to run but it wasn’t fast enough,” said Andrew Meunier of Naples to WINK-TV news reporters.
Meunier said that he let his dog out of his home about 11 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9 and stepped outside.
As he spotted three bears, one of them reared up on its hind legs and clawed at the man’s face.
It’s the first reported bear attack in the area in several decades https://t.co/TFpVqetR6F
— New York Post (@nypost) January 11, 2018
He said he struggled to get away, but the 4-foot black bear was too fast.
“I saw him, spun around, and by then I was hit,” the man told Fox6.
The man’s 7-year-old daughter was reportedly asleep inside the home.
“I’m just happy to be alive, it could’ve been a totally different story,” he told Fox6 reporters.
Somehow, the man managed to get back through his front door.
“I think at that point adrenaline carried me through it, you know, I didn’t know if I was cut or bleeding or anything until, after getting hit the next thing I really remember was getting inside and closing the door,” Meunier told WINK-TV.
Meunier immediately called emergency dispatch.
“Then I proceeded to call 911 and they came and took care of me,” Meunier said.
The 911 call revealed that Meunier suffered a facial laceration from the bear attack, which was the first in South Florida since 1970, WINK-TV reported.
Bear attacks man in Naples near high school. First bear attack in South Florida since 1970. https://t.co/LY4m7269hy pic.twitter.com/XDhXommhb3
— ABC Action News (@abcactionnews) January 11, 2018
The attack happened across the street from a high school. Apparently, this neighborhood has had a bear presence for some time with neighbors reporting sightings of bears rummaging through trash.
https://t.co/xfAK65Y32u Alright, #unBEARables … Who did it?
— Zombear ? (@TrevorO97466582) January 12, 2018
Wildlife officers are “desperately trying to catch the bear with a trap filled with donuts,” reported Hannah Vogel of WINK-TV, concerned for the safety of residents and children heading to school.
Another resident, Christian Pugh, is said to have recorded a video of bears digging through the trash bins outside his home when one of the bears rushed towards him.
Florida Fish and Wildlife representatives told WINK-TV reporters they are considering installing bear-proof trash bins into communities in order to lessen the risk of wild animal encounters.
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