Dog Helps Save Family from Grizzly Bear Intruder

A family has a tiny Jack Russell terrier to thank for saving their family from a hungry grizzly bear that wandered into their house.

Niki Traverse knew something was wrong when Sid, her dog, wouldn’t stop barking at 5 am on Sunday.

“My dog was at our bedroom door going crazy,” Traverse told CBC News from her family’s Kimberley, British Columbia, home where she lives with her husband, Mark, and 13-year-old son.

Traverse went to investigate the family’s ground floor kitchen and saw the outline of a grizzly bear, which had seemingly entered through an open window. The bear had already gone through some cat food and dog food.

Traverse returned to her bedroom and told her husband of what she’d seen. Armed with a hunting rifle, Mark shot the bear.

“By the time I reloaded the gun, he took a step more towards me, and I took another shot and he hit the floor, and he was still moving, so put another one in him, and that was the end of him,” he said.

The bear was confirmed by conservation officers to be a 15-year-old grizzly bear that had been malnourished, which was probably why it had broken into the family’s home.

The family won’t be leaving their windows open soon.

“Just glad it went down the way it did and nothing else happened,” said Mark.