Canine Protector
If you encountered a 300-pound black bear, your first instinct likely wouldn’t be to punch it in the face. But that’s exactly what 61-year-old Rick Nelson did when a mother bear confronted him his dog Margie on the hiking trail near Sudbury, Ontario. Rick, is a former featherweight boxer, who was walking his dog on Sunday in the woods near his house. “I sat down on a log and the bear cub poked its head out of the shrub nearby,” Nelson told CBC. “It was so close I could touch it. It let out a yelp, because I scared the heck out of it. I knew right away I was in trouble,” he said. “That bleat meant the cub was calling for mommy. Margie went bezerk,” Nelson said, adding, “I stepped in front of her because there was no way I was going to let anything happen to my dog.” Nelson said he could hear the bush crashing and knew the mother was coming at full speed. He looked around for rocks or sticks he could use to defend himself but found nothing. The mother bear was soon standing on its hind legs up in front of him.
Nelson practiced instincts kicked in. He tried to punch the bear directly in the nose but missed, hitting the growling bear in the teeth instead and tearing up his hand. The bear hit back and her claws scratched Nelson across his chest and face. “I knew it would swing first with its left, but it would really come with its right, because most bears are right-handed. I had the perfect shot to take,” he told CBC.ca. “I did an underhand and hit it right in the snout.” For a moment, the bear seemed to consider fighting back, but with a bloody snout, it opted to walk away As he dodged the next swipe of the big clawed paw Rick landed a solid second punch, delivering an uppercut to the bear’s snout that made her start snorting blood. The punch had put her teeth into her own face instead into his arm. Then the cub squealed and started to move away, and Nelson knew it was a critical moment: The mother would either walk away and follow her cub, or stay and fight him. “(The mother bear) turned around and it was snorting blood. It looked at me, and I thought, ‘Oh no. Here it comes,’” he said.
“But she just turned back around and walked away like nothing ever happened and followed the cub. So I really lucked out there.” “You want to make sure if you punch a bear that you’re hitting it straight in its snout. That’s really the only thing you have on a bear that will really startle it,” Rick repeated. He’s grateful he knew how to throw a punch. “Believe me, when you’ve got adrenaline pumping, you can hit. Even at 61 with grey hair, you can still hit hard.” Despite his encounter, Nelson said black bears aren’t typically dangerous unless a cub is involved. “Sometimes black bears get a really bad rap. Probably they’re more afraid of you and me, than we are of them. I’m really glad that the bear walked away. And I’m really glad I did too.” Nelson told the Sudbury media that he didn’t go to the hospital because he “didn’t feel he needed to.” He used peroxide and antibiotic cream at home instead.
Bear Necessities:
Someone asked President Biden, “Boxers or briefs?”
He said, “Depends.”
When I was a professional boxer. I fought a bout against Lennox Lewis. In the first round, I really had him worried…
…He thought he’d killed me.
What do you call a Frenchman who has been attacked by a bear?
Claude.
I heard professional boxers are among the highest paid people in the world.
Apparently, my bosses at Amazon didn’t get the memo.
April 2nd Birthdays
1990 – Christina Masterson, 1982 – Bethany Joy Lenz, 2000 – Sophie Reynolds, 1947 – Emmie Lou Harris
1976 – Adam Rodriquez, 1725 – Giacomo Casanova, 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, 1939 – Marvin Gaye