Bellingham boy, 12, fights off charging black bear with eye gouge in family’s backyard

A 12-year-old boy in Bellingham, Washington, fought off a charging black bear over the weekend, gouging the animal’s eye after it bit down on his wrist.

Robin Westgate said he was retrieving a bowl from his family’s backyard fruit orchard Sunday night when he came upon a black bear that turned out to be protecting a cub nearby. The two, he said, “startled each other” before the bear charged him twice, biting his wrist and leaving puncture wounds on his hip, according to KING.

“It was fight or die,” Westgate told the outlet. “I didn’t really have an option. [The bear] bit onto my wrist, and I slammed my hand and thumb into her eye.”

Black bears are a regular presence in the Westgates’ neighborhood near the Canadian border, and Robin said he had already been taught how to respond if he ever ran into one.

After breaking off from Robin, the bear charged again — this time at his father, Noah Westgate.

“Strange as it sounds, it was a feeling of relief to have her coming at me,” Noah Westgate said.

Noah said he went into what he called “code red” mode, meeting the bear’s charge with his fists.

“She crunches into my hand right at the moment that I land the hardest punch of my life,” he said.

The punch drove the bear off, according to Noah. Robin said the encounter was frightening but hasn’t changed his sense of the risk bears pose in the area.

“The only thing that changed is now I know I can trust myself,” he said.

The family credited Robin’s sister, Riverley, with limiting the damage. She heard her brother’s cries for help from outside the house.

“I’m just glad that I was outside and heard him and that the injuries weren’t worse,” Riverley said.

The bear has since returned to the area, and state wildlife workers photographed it. A trap has been set, but the animal remains at large. The Westgates said they now plan to carry bear spray in their own backyard.

State wildlife officials say bear attacks in Washington average less than one per year, though encounters with humans have grown more common as development pushes into bear habitat — a trend that sharpens this time of year as bears feed heavily ahead of winter hibernation.

“I’m a proud papa that my 12-year-old son stood his ground against a black bear,” Noah Westgate said.