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Thursday, September 23, 2010

Zucchini for Self Defense

Apparently even bears don't like overgrown zucchinis.

NPR reported this story by the Associated Press:

A Montana woman fended off a charging bear on her back porch early Thursday by using the first weapon she could reach — a piece of zucchini. The woman was stirred after midnight by a tussle in the backyard of her home near Frenchtown, Missoula County Sheriff's Lt. Rich Maricelli said. She went to investigate and found a 200-pound black bear attacking one of her two dogs, a 12-year-old collie.

The woman stood at her back door and screamed to divert the bear's attention from the dog. She told police the bear then charged her.

"The bear growled and was very aggressive and tried to come inside of her back door," Maricelli said. "She was able to stop the pursuing bear by improvising."

The bear took a swipe at her with its paw and tore her jeans. The woman jumped back and grasped the nearest object on her kitchen counter inside the doorway — a 12-inch-long zucchini she had harvested earlier from her garden.

She flung the zucchini at the bear from a distance she estimated to be 3 feet. The vegetable bopped the bruin on the top of its head and the animal fled, Maricelli said.

State wildlife officials were searching for the bear on Thursday. Radio station KGVO in Missoula first reported on the attack.

The woman received only minor scratches that did not require medical attention, though she was going to get a tetanus shot on Thursday as a precaution, Maricelli said. Police did not release her name.

The woman also planned to take her collie to the veterinarian. The dog didn't appear to have any bite wounds, but was a bit shaky on Thursday, Maricelli said.

"I don't know if it tried to bite him, but it rolled him around a little," he said.


There you have it.  Don't give away all your extra unwanted zucchinis, because you never know when you might need one!

13 comments:

Ribbit said...

That's FANTASTIC!

Erin said...

Hell yes! I'm going to link your post so all the followers we don't share can see this "awesomeness"!!

Accidentalultrarunner said...

Funny stuff!

Kaytee said...

That's hilarious!

thyme2garden said...

Ribbit, Nartaya and Kaytee - I'm so glad I decided to share this with all of you! I thought it made for a good read, and hooray to this woman's zucchini for possibly saving her and her dog's life!

* * * * *
Erin - thanks for reading and double thanks for linking to this post! It was really nice to have some of your followers come back and read this post.

* * * * *
Erin's Followers/Readers - thanks for visiting my blog and reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

I will make sure we plant at least 2 plants of Zucchini this spring:)

Erin said...

No problem, I had such a good laugh it was too funny not to share!

Erin said...

Just saw it again on the "Today" show!

Dirt Lover said...

I wonder if this would work on my pesky raccoons??? Might just have to keep one of my big ones around for the next time. Who'd'a thunk it???
~~Lori

thyme2garden said...

Malay-Kadazan girl - I was thinking the same thing. :)

* * * * *
Dirt Lover - you might have to work on your aim, but I'm sure it would work on the raccoons as well!

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