Couple get into ‘boxing match’ with bear and cub that break into their Colorado home

A couple in Colorado got the surprise of their lives Monday night when they went to investigate a sound inside their home.

Jon Johnson, 71, and his wife George Ann Field were watching TV in their Pine home when they heard a sound coming from upstairs, KCNC reported.

They followed the noise to their kitchen where they found a mama bear and her cub chowing down on a loaf of bread, police said in a Facebook post.

“It was growling, I was growling. Between the two of us we were having a lot of attitude,” Johnson said, according to KCNC.

Police say the bear attacked Johnson, but he punched back in what officials have called “a boxing match,” KDVR reported. As Johnson fought, Fields began hitting the bear with a baseball bat until the two bears ultimately exited the same way they came in: through the screen door, police say.

Surveillance video shows a second cub waiting outside, KDVR reported.

“I grabbed the bat. I missed the big bear fight,” Fields said, according to KCNC. “All I remember seeing was a big brown blob in front of me. I empowered myself. I’ve never been that strong. I whacked that bear as strong as I could… you would have thought I was a Louisville slugger.”

Johnson suffered a number of cuts and scratches, including four claw marks to the stomach, KDVR reported. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the bear was captured and euthanized the next morning, according to the news outlet.

Bears are more likely to be foraging for food this time of year in preparation for the winter, police say.

This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Couple get into ‘boxing match’ with bear and cub that break into their Colorado home."