Colorado couple describes how they won a bear fight with their bare hands
A Colorado couple was able to survive a violent "boxing match" with a bear inside their home.
When Jon Johnson and his wife George Ann Fields came face-to-face with a mother bear and her two cubs on Monday night, both parties' fighting instincts kicked in.
"I was going to do do whatever was necessary to defend [her]," Johnson told ABC News.
Johnson heard a noise, came up from the basement and saw the "bear looking at me right in the face" when he turned the corner.
"She swiped me across the nose -- I smacked her on her arm," he said of what he initially called a "sparring" match. "There really was no decision on running because I could either go towards the bear, or stay there and keep it from getting to George."
Surveillance video showed the bears as they entered through a screen door and apparently ate bread that was left out on the kitchen counter.
The bear swiped Johnson, 71, "multiple times with its claws," Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) reported. Johnson sustained a number of lacerations to his face, chest and both arms and was treated at the scene, but was not taken to a hospital, CPW said in a press release.
Fields said that she stepped in with a Louisville Slugger bat to help fend off the animal and save her husband.
"I felt like I had like a lightning bolt in my body that was driving that [baseball] bat. I was so scared," Fields told ABC News Denver affiliate KMGH holding back tears. "My adrenaline was, I mean, I can still hear it."
In total, it took approximately two minutes for the couple to drive the mother bear and cub out of their home.
"There was a bear in the house. It attacked my husband," Fields told a 911 operator.
Jefferson County officials arrived on the scene and CPW searched the area with dogs to track the bear. CPW and USDA Wildlife Services officials found the bear about 900 yards away from the home just before 7 a.m. Tuesday.
A large female bear was found and euthanized, CPW said, adding that DNA samples were sent to the University of Wyoming Forensics Lab for analysis to confirm this was the bear from the attack.
CPW policy states that when a bear attacks a human resulting in injury, that bear must be euthanized.
The cub that was with the mother bear has not been found, but officials hope to track it down and take it to a shelter.
Wildlife officers continue to monitor the area.
CPW also warned that bears are very active this time of year and eat as much as possible before hibernating for the winter.
