A half-blind, 12-year-old New Mexico dog is being called “bear slayer” after she fended off an ursine intruder at her family’s home, protecting dozens of chickens and other animals but only narrowly surviving the violent encounter.
As told by her caretakers, the story of Honey demonstrates the extreme loyalty of dogs to their owners.
Honey’s owner, Denise Martinez of New Mexico’s Cordova community, said security-footage audio and animal tracks established that the dog, in early March, had battled with a bear who had approached their land.
The bear was seemingly fresh out of hibernation and hungry, the local Española Humane shelter wrote in a Facebook post. But not one of more than 60 chickens cooped up on the property were harmed, and neither were other creatures, including two horses and dogs, after Honey warded the bear off.
Honey, however, paid a steep price physically, Martinez said during a brief telephone interview on Monday. Martinez said security camera audio captured the moment when Honey fell into the clutches of the bear, who made terrifying sounds during their struggle.
As first reported by the local news outlet KOB, Martinez’s daughter, Leanna, found the dog in the family’s driveway the next morning with nearly fatal injuries: torn flesh, deep punctures, bruising and huge swelling.
“The bear just [ripped off] the skin of her neck from below the collar to right under her chin,” Denise Martinez said of the wounds on Honey, who previously had been partly blinded from a run-in with a porcupine. “It was hard to look at – and it did not look like something Honey would be able to overcome.”
The Martinezes brought Honey to the urgent care clinic run by the non-profit Española Humane. There, she underwent surgery and endured daily bandage changes while taking a battery of medications.
Honey withstood her treatment as courageously as she stood up to the bear, according to the shelter, which noted that among her devoted visitors were Denise, her daughter and her son, Darren.
She betrayed the fact that she becomes terrified whenever a running vacuum cleaner is in her vicinity – yet the bravery she showed defending her homestead and then in the aftermath of those heroics had landed her the moniker “bear slayer” from both the Martinezes and the shelter.
By the time the shelter had published its post about Honey, she was back home, resting amid the horses, her fellow dogs, and the chickens who lay eggs that the Martinezes routinely give away to colleagues and friends, according to the facility.
“She is our little savior – she’s always been protective that way,” Denise said of Honey on Monday. “She risked her life to save not just the coop – but her family – from that bear.”
Meanwhile, the shelter’s post added: “Honey didn’t just survive. She stood between her family and danger, and chose them – over and over again, even when it could have cost her everything. And because of her family’s love, a community who cares, and a little bit of … badassery, this half-blind sassy senior is still here.”
