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Fending Off a Bear with a Zucchini

A Montana woman helped save her dog from a bear with the help of a zucchini, the Billings Gazette reports.

It was bedtime in Missoula County, and the woman had let her three dogs out into the backyard for a few minutes to do their business.

A few yards away, unseen by the woman, was a black bear, apparently eating apples from a nearby tree. The bear saw the dogs and the dogs saw the bear. Two of the pooches ran and started barking; the third, an old collie, stayed next to the woman. The bear went for him.

The woman, who has asked not to be identified, ran into the kitchen and grabbed the only apparent weapon – a zucchini from the garden. She hurled the zucchini at the bear… and the bear ran off into the woods.