By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
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Ken Smith/Turnagain Times Missy, a Jack Russell Terrier, survived a black bear attack with an angry sow protecting its cub. Becca Basler, her owner, said the dog was close to death before a gaping wound was quickly stitched up by Shine Herfindahl, a mid-wife in Girdwood. |
Sunday afternoon, Aug. 5, Becca Basler was inside her home on Hottentot Road in Girdwood. Her dog, Missy, a 15-pound Jack Russell Terrier, was outside on the porch sitting next to another Jack, its father. Suddenly the two dogs stood up and started barking. They raced down the stairs and around the corner of the house. Basler went outside and called for them to return. There had been a black bear sow frequenting the area, and Missy had chased it off before. The dogs lingered in the back, as Basler continued calling for them. Then they returned, and Missy slowly walked up the porch stairs. She was bleeding profusely from a gaping gash from the lower half of her neck down to the middle of her chest.
This time it looked like the sow did not retreat and run off into the woods as it has done in the past, but stood its ground and swiped at Missy and caught her with its dagger like claws.
“It was crazy,” said Basler, 21, said. She got her Jack from her sister, Bina, who had a pair that produced a litter two-and-a-half years ago. “I could not believe how she got attacked by a bear. She came up the stairs and you could see the veins and the muscles of her chest. It was cut open pretty bad.”
Basler frantically made phone calls looking for medical help. Finally, she got a hold of her ex-boyfriend’s mother, Shine Herfindahl, who is a mid-wife in town. Basler immediately brought Missy over to Herfindahl’s house. She quickly sowed the wound shut, stopping the bleeding and saving the dog’s life.
“Less than an inch deeper, and it would have gotten a vein,” said Basler. “She would have bled to death and died right there on the porch.”
Basler said the sow black bear had three cubs at the start of the summer, but now only has one. “I guess she’s pretty mad,” she said. “Especially when some Jack Russels are trying to get her.”
Jack Russell Terriers are considered one of the smartest breeds of dogs. They are also known for their tenacity and are trained to hunt foxes, riding horseback until the hounds chase the fox into its hole. It’s then the Jack’s turn to run into the hole and drive the fox out.
Earlier in the summer, another Jack Russell owner from New Mexico, who was working at Girdwood Ski and Cyclery for a month, shared a story about a black bear attack. He was hiking with his dog, when suddenly the Jack, following its hunting instincts, ran into a large hole. Several minutes later, a black bear emerged with the terrier in its jaws. It shook the dog several times, and then threw it to 20-yards into the air. The dog hit the ground, bounced up and ran back to its owner. The man scared the bear off and checked his dog for injuries. Its entire neck was ripped open and one of its ears was bitten off. However, the little terrier survived, living up to its reputation for resilience and toughness.
As for Missy, she lives another day as well, and hopefully has learned a lesson about sow black bears with cubs.
“She knows what bears are,” said Basler. “She’s been after them, but she’s never been swatted at like that!”
Ken Smith/Turnagain Times
Missy, a Jack Russell Terrier, survived a black bear attack with an angry sow protecting its cub. Becca Basler, her owner, said the dog was close to death before a gaping wound was quickly stitched up by Shine Herfindahl, a mid-wife in Girdwood.