Bear Attack In Florida - A 15-year-old girl, whose instinct to play dead probably saved her life during a bear attack in Franklin County over the weekend, is recovering from plastic surgery for bite marks and other cuts she sustained across her body during the deadly encounter.
Leah Reeder says she figured that no one was hearing her as she continued to scream when she was being mauled by the black bear and no help came.
According to local sources, Leah was attacked behind the Big Top Supermarket. Sometime at dusk on Saturday, the teenager was walking her dog - a springer spaniel - when she came under attack from the bear.
According to Leah, she was walking her dog - Ralph - and listening to music when she was attacked.
"The only other option was to play dead," Leah told The Times. "As soon as stopped screaming, it stopped biting me. It lost its grip on my jacket and fell in the ditch and got up and ran away. I thought it was going to come back but it didn't."
Despite being injured and bleeding heavily, Leah was able to walk for about a block back home. She was later transferred by ambulance to the Bay Medical Center in Panama City. "Even as I sit here now I can't believe what happened," Leah's mother Sherry Mann told the press.
This bear attack in Florida's northwest occurred in a city where such confrontations are rare. It is unclear why Leah was attacked.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers, who responded to the bear attack, set traps to catch any bears in the area. Officials say it is likely more than one bear will be caught and euthanized. Locals say the population of bears in the community seems to have increased notably prior to the attack on Leah.
FWC officers have cautioned locals to be on high alert and call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) to report any bear activity.
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