78-Year-Old Man Comes Face-To-Face With A Black Bear And Punches It In The Face

Nov 15, 2018 by apost team

Election Day 2018 saw a 78-year-old man punch a big black bear in the face. It was a once in a lifetime encounter that the gentleman was glad to escape alive.

It was a normal fall day for Sonny Pumphrey at his home in White Oak, North Carolina. He was outside getting the autumn leaves cleaned up when he had a face-to-face encounter with a mother black bear and her two cubs.

The cubs scrambled to get away at the sight of the strange human. However, the mother didn't budge. Mr. Pumphrey saw he had nowhere to run. He was closed in on both the right and left sides, with the mother blocking his escape path. This drove him into survival mode.

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The mother bear ran at him. Pumphrey's first reaction was to punch the bear in the face. He had nothing else on hand to defend himself except his bare fists. He was lucky to land a few blows, but the bear didn't stop the attack. In fact, the bear sunk her teeth into him and started shaking him around.

From inside the house, Mr. Pumphrey's wife, Betty, heard the struggle and looked out the door. Her first thought was that the bear was going to kill Sonny. It was a basic fight for survival.

She opened the door and came out screaming. The family dog joined her barking its head off. They were trying to frighten the bear away from Sonny. It worked. With all the additional noise, the mother bear released Mr. Pumphrey. She turned and ran away in the direction her cubs took.

Once the bear was out of sight, Betty called emergency services. An ambulance arrived and transported Sonny to a nearby hospital. There they treated the bear bite on his hip. He also received rabies shots just in case.

Sonny reported that he was sore all over, though he was home and recovering by the Friday after Election Day. Mr. Pumphrey was lucky to be alive after this potentially deadly encounter. His plan going forward is never to be outside without a gun nearby.

Do you think you would have done the same thing as Sonny? Let us know. How would your friends and family have reacted? Let them read about it for themselves.