‘It was horrifying’: Couple recounts being charged by bear in viral video

By Megan Mellado

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    APOPKA, Florida (WESH) — A Central Florida couple is shaken up after being charged by a black bear in an attack that was caught on camera and has quickly gone viral.

It happened Tuesday in Apopka.

The couple told WESH 2 they were taking their small dachshund for a walk when the bear began charging at them.

The doorbell video shows the couple barreling back inside, followed by their tiny dog, who turns back for a last bark at the bear before being called inside.

Seeing bears around the neighborhood isn’t uncommon for Jason and Rachel Smith.

“We’re used to living with the bears. We see them fairly often,” Jason Smith said.

But being charged at and then chased by one is.

“It was horrifying,” Jason Smith said.

Security video from in front of the couple’s Apopka home caught the two of them running for their lives.

Their dog Prince ran behind them.

“The dog was already nervous about something. My wife came back in. She said there might be something out there, you know, so being curious, we go back out slowly, look everywhere. We don’t see anything. I go a little further out, don’t see anything. Looking all around, I said alright well let’s go ahead and come out and let the dog out,” Jason Smith said.

The couple says that’s when the bear came out from behind their neighbor’s car, which was about 30 feet away, and charged at them.

“My first gut reaction was I need to grab the dog, but then I’m like I need to start yelling, trying to wave my arms around and make myself as big and scary as possible, but I only had a second. He was covering that 30 feet very quickly and it was just time to run,” Jason Smith said.

“He was getting in my neighbor’s trash and I think we disrupted his meal maybe and that’s why he charged. I don’t know,” Rachel Smith said.

After posting the video on social media, they received comments about not picking up Prince first.

They say after trying to scare the bear away and making a split-second decision to run, they did make sure Prince was running too.

“If the bear would’ve grabbed him, I would’ve been more than happy to put myself in danger and try to save my dog,” Rachel Smith.

There have been multiple incidents with black bears in Central Florida so far this year.

In January, a Daytona Beach man went viral on TikTok when he faced off with a black bear while defending his beloved dachshunds.

Kerry Hickox called 911 and told dispatchers her husband had been attacked by a bear outside their Daytona Beach home around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“My husband was just attacked by a bear, who do we get hold of to get this thing removed?” Hickox asked the 911 dispatcher. “He’s got puncture wounds and scratches, but not enough for an ambulance or anything.”

Also in January, a woman told WESH 2 she was attacked by a bear while walking her dog in DeBary.

Neighbors helped save the woman, who identified herself as Aydee, from a mother bear protecting her three cubs. She recalled the bear tackling her as she was heading into her house.

“I took off running that way and then she was running behind me. And she grabbed me by my shoulders and, I mean, I fell to the ground,” Aydee said.

Aydee suffered scratches on her face, a concussion, and bites and scratches on her lower back that required a trip to the hospital and stitches.

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