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Flanked by his two Pomeranians, Norb Dotzel walked the lane from his garage to his house like he does every day.
But on June 6, something happened to transform Dotzel’s daily walk from routine to nightmarish.
As Dotzel, who resides in Slocum Township, and his two dogs walked the lane, three bear cubs bolted across about 30 feet away. Dotzel’s dogs immediately ran toward the spot where the cubs crossed, and as he tried to call them back, out stepped another bear.
It was a sow, and the cubs were hers.
One of Dotzel’s Pomeranians returned, but the other held its ground and barked at the sow. Acting to protect its cubs or because it felt threatened, the sow swatted the dog to the ground and then held it down with her front foot. Dotzel yelled at the bear, hoping it would release the dog and move on.
Instead, the bear started walking toward Dotzel.
“I don’t get scared easily, but I was scared right then,” Dotzel said. “The bear didn’t charge me, but it wouldn’t stop walking toward me. I didn’t have anything to defend myself.”
With nothing left to do but run, Dotzel turned and bolted toward his father’s house. As he did, he noticed his other dog run the other way toward the approaching bear. That gave Dotzel some precious time to make it to his father’s house.
“I didn’t think I could out-run the bear, and I don’t think it had a lot of fear,” he said. “But it was distracted by the other dog, which was jumping around it barking.”
After making it to the house, Dotzel returned to the scene a few minutes later and approached with caution.
He feared the worst.
The bears were gone and the second dog that charged the sow was fine. But the first dog – the one that ran toward the cubs and was swatted and stepped on by the sow, was still alive but injured. Dotzel took the dog to an emergency veterinary clinic where it passed away from massive internal injuries. There were no bite marks, Dotzel said. The injuries were caused from the weight of the bear when it stepped on the dog.
There are several things to learn from Dotzel’s encounter with the sow and cubs.
Pennsylvania Game Commission information and education supervisor Bill Williams said a trap was set in the area to try to capture the bear, but to no avail. He said it’s not a frequent occurrence to have a bear attack a pet dog, but it can happen.
“Bears aren’t tracking down dogs and attacking them,” Williams said. “But if you live in an area where bears inhabit, it’s a good idea to consider leaching your dogs when outside.”
Even Dotzel, who has resided in rural Slocum Township his entire life, took away a few lessons from the tragic encounter.
“I never thought about what I would do if I had an encounter with a bear like this,” he said. “I think there’s just too many of them right now.
“But I can’t be angry at the bear. It was just protecting her cubs.”
While Dotzel’s bear encounter resulted in a tragic end for one of his dogs, it doesn’t mean we should fear the outdoors and not venture into the woods.
But it serves as a reminder to be cautious and alert. While bear attacks on pets or humans are extremely rare, they are still wild animals with a degree of unpredictability.
And, unfortunately, sometimes all it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as Dotzel was when he walked his dogs along the lane on June 6.