Pet Dog Recovering After Horrific Encounter With Black Bear In Dauphin County

A family pet dog narrowly escaped with its life after a black bear grabbed it by the throat in Dauphin County late Wednesday.

Linglestown resident Lindsey Reigle posted on her Facebook page that she heard their trash can getting knocked over around 12:30 a.m on November 13 and saw a mother black bear and three of her cubs making a meal out of the bird feeds.

They observed the animals for about 30 minutes and from their second story window and only stopped when they were too cold.

Reigle also reckoned that the mother bear weighed around 300 pounds while her cubs came in at roughly 75 pounds each.

Pennsylvania Game Commission communications director Travis Lau told ABC 27 that the reason why bears frequently visit a neighborhood is because there's always food available.

“Food can mean anything from trash on the curb, gas grills or bird feeders in the backyard.”

Things went sideways when their son let their five-year-old German Shepherd, Sig, outside and returned home with a huge wound on its neck and bite marks all over its body.

Sig was rushed to the Shores Veterinary Emergency Center and underwent a three and a half surgery to repair the gaping four-inch wound on his neck.

Lindsey's husband, Matt Reigle said that the bear barely missed Sig's eye and now has a large swollen lump on his throat.

Veterinarians also installed a drain to reduce the blood that is collecting from the dog's throat, he added.

Animal doctors and the Reigle family are expecting Sig to survive the horrid bear encounter.

“We're really lucky to still have him,” said Lindsey in one of her posts.

Matt encountered the bears again a few hours after the attack.

He said that the bear cubs were in their driveway while the mother bear was in the bushes about 15 feet away.

In an effort to scare the animals away, Matt made loud noises, wild gestures and even threw items in their direction. Unfortunately, the animals didn't seem to care about his labors.

“She's not afraid of people. What concerns me is she got into a fight with an 80-pound German Shepherd and two hours later, she's still at the same spot.”

The couple believed that they were the same bears that were in their back yard the previous night, and Lau added that they could also be the same pack that they spotted just over a mile away two weeks ago.

The recent attack on Sig, and the fact that the neighborhood has children and pets of their own prompted the Pennsylvania Game Commission to set up a trap to capture the bears and relocate them somewhere remote.

The statement advised residents to remove all “potential food sources” from their properties and to keep an eye on their pets, especially at night.

“Dog owners should know that dogs and bears generally do not get along,” the statement further indicated.