Wildlife officials say a 12-year-old boy in Wisconsin shot and killed a black bear that was mauling his father.
Owen Beierman, 12, took aim at the bruine that had tied down his father while they were on a lawful hunting expedition.
“Owen was a hero,” Ryan Beierman, 43, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “He shot that bear and killed it on top of me.”
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports that the attack took place on September 6 in Siren, Burnett County.
The two were looking for black bears near the family’s cabin when they noticed the 200 lb. (91 kg) bruin.
Owen shot and damaged the animal, which ran into the dark woodland. They gave chase, and as they reached a glade, the animal charged at Mr. Beierman from approximately 6 feet (1.8 meters) away.
He claimed he fired eight shots at the bruin with his revolver but missed. The bear bit him in the abdomen, arm, and leg.
“I started pistol-whipping him, and it felt like I was striking a brick wall,” he told the newspaper.
He narrated seeing the flash from the muzzle of the boy’s rifle.
“I was flat on my back and could feel the bullet going through the bear,” Mr. Beierman said.
He needed sutures to reconnect a flap of flesh to his cheek and had puncture wounds in his arm and legs. Officials claim bear attacks are extremely rare.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources documented nine similar instances between 2013 and 22.
