Latest news with #WESH-TV
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fla. Woman Thwarts Bear Attack by Throwing a Bag of Cookies at the Animal
A Florida woman said she had been walking her dog in her neighborhood when a bear started coming "after her dog" She said she eventually escaped the bear by distracting it with cookies, while she grabbed her dog and ran away She said that the incident showed an important lesson of bringing some kind of item to scare the animals away if they get too close A Florida woman and her dog escaped a charging bear — all thanks to a bag of cookies. Fla. resident Kristen Savage had been walking her dog Ringo in the Sylvan Lake Reserve neighborhood near her home when a bear came after her dog, she told WESH-TV, WKMG-TV and Fox 35 Orlando. 'The bear snuck up behind me, went around my leg, and started biting at my dog,' Savage said, per WESH-TV. 'I was hanging [Ringo] like a piñata basically in the air, but every time I put my dog down on the ground, she would go after him again.' She said she had spun to try to keep her dog away, but ended up falling down and sustaining a few scrapes to her legs and hands. The black bear even put her dog in its mouth for a brief moment, according to her recollection of the incident. Related: How to Prevent Bear Attacks and What to Do If a Bear Approaches You, According to Experts "At one point, I thought, 'We aren't going to get out of this,' because there is no one here to help me," Savage explained, per the outlets. She told WESH-TV that she started 'waving' her hands and 'screaming' at the large bear to get her attention, which prompted the bear to 'back off' for a bit, but when she stopped the movements, the bear 'sprinted right at us again.' At that moment, she told the outlet that she decided to use her only other option — a bag of cookies that her mother had given her a few minutes earlier. She said she 'smacked the bear across the face' with the bag of cookies and 'threw them at her face.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "I threw the bag at her, and she stopped for a minute, and she sniffed the cookies,' Savage recalled to Fox 35 Orlando. 'As soon as she was distracted by the cookies, I ran!" She said those few seconds keeping the bear occupied was enough to help her and her dog Ringo get back safely into their house. She shared that her dog was not injured by the incident. Related: Moose Narrowly Avoids Grizzly Bear Attack in Thrilling Viral Video from Montana Campground Savage noted to the outlet that the bear was previously spotted in their neighborhood, and that she even has pictures of her nursing cubs in the backyard, per WESH-TV. According to Fox 35 Orlando, she said that while she didn't 'blame the bear' as she understood 'it was a mother protecting her cubs,' she would also try to be more cautious in the future. '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 told WESH-TV. 'And just pay attention to your surroundings.' 'Bears are highly intelligent and adaptable, learning quickly to associate people with food,' The Florida Fish and Wildlife and Conservation Commission (FWC) said on its website. 'Black bears are normally too shy to risk contact with humans, but their powerful need to find food can overwhelm this fear.' The FWC recommended on its website that if people see a bear, they should try to scare it away 'by yelling, banging pots and pans, using an air horn or anything else that makes a lot of noise.' Read the original article on People
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Meet Tucker, a 6-foot-tall baby Masai giraffe born at Disney World's Animal Kingdom
Meet Tucker, a 6-foot-tall baby Masai giraffe born at Disney World's Animal Kingdom Show Caption Hide Caption Disney's Animal Kingdom welcomes newborn giraffe calf Tucker, a baby Masai giraffe, became the first giraffe calf born at Walt Disney World Resort since 2021. Disney World has been the site of another magical moment: the birth of a baby Masai giraffe. Mother giraffe Mara welcomed her newest calf, named Tucker, at the Animal Kingdom Theme Park in Bay Lake, Florida, on Monday according to Disney. It's Disney World's first giraffe birth since 2021. Since making her grand entrance in 2015, Mara has given birth three separate times, park officials confirmed. The Masai giraffe first became a mother in 2019 when she welcomed Jabari and has expanded her family at the park's Kilimanjaro Safaris savanna ever since. "Tucker's birth is very important for us," said Mark Penning, Disney's vice president of Animals, Science and Environment, said in a video shared by the company. "It's testament to Disney's leadership in animal care and conservation. This plan focuses on maintaining genetic diversity of the giraffe population and helping prevent giraffes from becoming extinct." How tall is Tucker? Tucker is 6 feet tall, the average height of newborn calves after birth. Disney park animal care manager Jenn Hernandez said is Mara's third child and is one of eight giraffes at the theme park, local station WESH-TV reported. "We're really excited to see him have all his firsts, he's out for the first time, he's meeting new animals for the first time he's meeting his aunties the first time," Hernandez told the station. "It's kind of an exciting day so it's all hands on deck." Masai giraffe are considered endangered species Masai giraffe are classified as endangered species as there are only around 30,000 left in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There are total of four giraffe species including northern, reticulated and southern, with only around 117,000 existing in the wild, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation in Namibia reports. While honoring Tucker's birth, Disney highlighted its Disney Conservation Fund's 30th anniversary of supporting community conservation programs that "protect wildlife, inspire action, and promote environmental resilience."
