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A man managed to scare off a bear that was “aggressively” attacking a young woman by hitting it with a statue of an angel.
The animal struck the victim (name withheld) on the deck of Roy Helmer’s home in Hay River, Canada, on Oct. 16, as per CBC on the same day. When the woman began screaming, she eventually caught the attention of Helmer’s partner at around 3 a.m.
She immediately looked outside and saw the bear on top of the woman. Upon seeing this, she quickly woke up Helmer. Once Helmer checked the front of their home, he witnessed the bear dragging the victim off of their house deck before mauling her “aggressively.”
Helmer then rushed out of the front door to save the young woman. Once he exited the house, Helmer threw a boot and screamed at the animal to try and scare it away.
However, the animal refused to let go of the woman. Following his initial attempt, Helmer grabbed a nearby statue of an angel to drive it away.
“I picked that up and I run over there and I nailed it. And it backed off just enough for me to grab her feet and drag her to the bottom of the steps and get her up and into my place,” he told the news outlet.
After the incident, emergency workers transferred the victim to a hospital to treat her injuries. Authorities also stated that the bear “believed to be involved in the incident” was shot dead by their officers.
Meanwhile, the environment and natural resources ministries have already launched an investigation into the attack, as per report. They also urged the public to be cautious when walking in nearby forested areas that the bears wander through when hunting for food. Ryan Arcadio /ra
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