WESH TWO NEWS. NEW AT NOON A SEMINOLE COUNTY WOMAN IS SHARING HER SCARY ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR. THIS IS AT THE SYLVAN LAKE RESERVE NEIGHBORHOOD OFF ORANGE BOULEVARD IN SANFORD. AND AS WESH TWO BOB HAZEN EXPLAINS, THE WOMAN SAYS SHE AND HER DOG WERE SAVED BY A BAG OF COOKIES. PEOPLE IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD ARE VERY WELL ACCUSTOMED TO SEEING BEARS, BUT THE WOMAN HERE SAYS SHE DIDN’T SEE THIS ONE COMING UNTIL HAD HER DOG IN ITS MOUTH. RINGO IS A FEISTY CHIHUAHUA MIX WITH ONE TOOTH WHO LIKES TO BARK. IT SURPRISED HIM, BUT EVEN HE DIDN’T MAKE A SOUND WHEN A BEAR CAME UP ON HIM AND HIS OWNER LAST WEEK. ALL OF A SUDDEN I LOOKED DOWN AND I SAW THIS BIG BLACK HEAD. THAT HEAD BELONGED TO A BEAR. IT’S WELL KNOWN IN THE SYLVAN LAKE RESERVE NEIGHBORHOOD OF SANFORD. KRISTEN SAVAGE HAS PICTURES OF IT WITH HER CUBS. IT HANGS OUT IN HER BACKYARD ONE TIME. CHECK THIS OUT. SHE EVEN STOOD UP ON HER FRONT PORCH AND PEEKS IN THE DOOR. KRISTEN KNOWS TO WATCH OUT FOR IT, BUT WHEN SHE WAS WALKING RINGO AROUND 8 P.M., SHE DIDN’T HEAR ANYTHING. SNUCK UP BEHIND ME AND WENT AROUND MY LEG AND STARTED BITING AT MY DOG. SHE SAYS SHE PULLED ON RINGO’S LEASH AND HELD HIM UP IN THE AIR, SPINNING AROUND TO KEEP HIM FROM THE BEAR UNTIL SHE FELL DOWN. THAT’S WHEN I STARTED TO PANIC BECAUSE I WAS LIKE, OH MY GOSH, I’M ON THE GROUND. I’M IN A VULNERABLE POSITION. BUT MY BRAIN WAS LIKE, GET UP AND GET BIG. KRISTEN STARTED WAVING HER HANDS AND SCREAMING, BUT THE BEAR KEPT COMING BACK. AT THAT POINT, I WAS LIKE, OKAY, WE’RE DEAD. AND THEN I REMEMBERED THE COOKIES. A BAG OF COOKIES THAT HER MOM HAD GIVEN HER JUST A FEW MINUTES EARLIER. I KIND OF FEEL BAD, BUT I SMACKED THE BEAR ACROSS THE FACE WITH A BAG OF COOKIES, AND I THREW THEM AT HER FACE. THAT SHIFTED THE BEAR’S ATTENTION, AND KRISTEN GOT AWAY WITH RINGO, WHO SOMEHOW WAS NOT HURT. KRISTEN BELIEVES THE BEAR WAS JUST TRYING TO PROTECT HER CUBS, AND SHE DOESN’T HOLD ANY ILL WILL TOWARD HER. I THINK IT’S JUST IMPORTANT LESSON TO ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING ON YOU THAT CAN SCARE THEM AWAY, LIKE A HORN, OR LIKE AN AIR HORN OR A SPRAY, AND JUST PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS. COVERING SEMINOLE COUNTY IN SANFORD, BOB HAZ
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Central Florida woman uses bag of cookies to save dog from bear attack
Updated: 1:53 PM EDT Apr 28, 2025
A Seminole County woman says she and her dog were saved by a bag of cookies when a bear attacked them last week.Kristen Savage told WESH 2 she was walking her dog, Ringo, in front of their house in the Sylvan Lake Reserve neighborhood around 8 p.m. on Friday.“The bear snuck up behind me, went around my leg, and started biting at my dog,” Savage said. “I was hanging him like a piñata basically in the air, but every time I put my dog down on the ground, she would go after him again.”Savage says at one point, the bear had her dog in its mouth. She spun around trying to keep her dog away, but at one point fell down.“That’s when I started to panic because I’m on the ground, I’m in a vulnerable position. My brain was like, ‘Get up and get big,’ so I did start waving my hands and screaming at her, and stepping towards the bear,” Savage said. “She did back off, but the second I took a break from that, she sprinted right at us again.”Savage said she remembered she had a bag of cookies that her mother had just given her.“I kind of feel bad, but I smacked the bear across the face with a bag of cookies and I threw them at her face,” Savage said.That was enough to shift the bear’s attention to the cookies, and Savage and Ringo were able to escape. Surprisingly, Ringo was not hurt, but Savage suffered some scrapes on her leg from the fall.The bear is well-known to people in the neighborhood: Savage has pictures of her nursing cubs in the backyard, and several doorbell camera videos showing the bears on the front porch and walking in her driveway.She believes the bear may have thought Ringo was a threat, and was protecting her cubs. She doesn’t hold any ill will against the bear, but says it did make her realize to be more cautious.“I think it’s an important lesson to always have something on you that can scare them away, like an air horn or a spray,” Savage said. “And just pay attention to your surroundings.”
A Seminole County woman says she and her dog were saved by a bag of cookies when a bear attacked them last week.
Kristen Savage told WESH 2 she was walking her dog, Ringo, in front of their house in the Sylvan Lake Reserve neighborhood around 8 p.m. on Friday.
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“The bear snuck up behind me, went around my leg, and started biting at my dog,” Savage said. “I was hanging him like a piñata basically in the air, but every time I put my dog down on the ground, she would go after him again.”
Savage says at one point, the bear had her dog in its mouth. She spun around trying to keep her dog away, but at one point fell down.
“That’s when I started to panic because I’m on the ground, I’m in a vulnerable position. My brain was like, ‘Get up and get big,’ so I did start waving my hands and screaming at her, and stepping towards the bear,” Savage said. “She did back off, but the second I took a break from that, she sprinted right at us again.”
Savage said she remembered she had a bag of cookies that her mother had just given her.
“I kind of feel bad, but I smacked the bear across the face with a bag of cookies and I threw them at her face,” Savage said.
That was enough to shift the bear’s attention to the cookies, and Savage and Ringo were able to escape. Surprisingly, Ringo was not hurt, but Savage suffered some scrapes on her leg from the fall.
The bear is well-known to people in the neighborhood: Savage has pictures of her nursing cubs in the backyard, and several doorbell camera videos showing the bears on the front porch and walking in her driveway.
She believes the bear may have thought Ringo was a threat, and was protecting her cubs. She doesn’t hold any ill will against the bear, but says it did make her realize to be more cautious.
“I think it’s an important lesson to always have something on you that can scare them away, like an air horn or a spray,” Savage said. “And just pay attention to your surroundings.”
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