Bear went after dog, then man!
Sunday, September 04, 2005 (15:29:16)

Posted by Steve

Dennis Heckert thought his life was going to end yesterday when a black bear he'd seen many times during the last few months attacked him on his farm near Lac du Bonnet.

The 52-year-old grain and cattle farmer survived a violent struggle about 2:30 p.m. with the wild animal that initially attacked his small four-year-old terrier.

"I heard my dog yelling in the yard ... I went to see what the ruckus was and when I got close the bear went after me," Heckert said from his room at Beausejour District Hospital.

He's the second person to be attacked by a black bear in nearly a week. Harvey Robinson, 68, was killed Aug. 26 during an encounter near his home in the Rural Municipality of St. Clements.

Heckert came out swinging and fought for his life when the animal charged, clawed and sunk its teeth into his arms.


Please click read more below to view the rest of the story.

He struggled with the yearling bear for several minutes while his injured and bleeding dog, named Pepi, lay nearby.

"My knuckles are still sore from hitting it in the head," he said. "I grabbed it by the ear and I must have pounded it in the head 50 times. I was calling it every swear word that I could think of."

Adrenaline pumping through his body, Heckert continued to throw fists at the bear until it retreated into his field. Mounties and Manitoba Conservation officials were looking for the animal last night.

"That's what I found odd. All of a sudden it just turned around and trotted off," Heckert said. "I think he was trying to protect the dog as its food while I was trying to protect the dog's life.

"He had been around the farm all spring and (yesterday) he was trying to kill my dog."

Heckert's common-law wife drove him to Beausejour District Hospital, where he was treated for bite marks on his wrists and arms and scratches to much of his body.

It's not known if the bear has rabies, but Heckert was expected to receive a painful vaccine last night before returning to his farm, located about 80 km northeast of Winnipeg.

Pepi was treated by a Beausejour veterinarian and will recover, said Heckert, who feared he'd be the fourth Manitoban killed by a black bear since the 1920s.

'I GUESS I GOT LUCKY'

"That automatically comes into your head," he said. "Holy s---, am I going to be the next one? I guess I got lucky."

Black bear complaints in Lac du Bonnet have been on the rise since last week's fatal attack. Mounties are warning people to avoid encounters with the animals.

"Because there's so many people up here for the long weekend, we're advising them to stay away from them," Lac du Bonnet Cpl. Stu Evans said.

"They're a wild animal and unpredictable."

Written by: CHRIS KITCHING, STAFF REPORTER

Source:WPGSun