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‘It was just what I had to do’ By Buffy Pollock Updated: Sep 07, 2022 04:40 PM A A 3 View all photos Medford woman relates how she and her two dogs fought off a bear Cloris Leffler reenacts how she used an iron chair to fight off a bear that attacked her and her dogs Monday night at her home in Medford. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune] Cloris Leffler reenacts how she used an iron chair to fight off a bear that attacked her and her dogs Monday night at her home in Medford. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune] Cloris Leffler shares a moment with her dogs, Kalea, left, and Nala at her home in Medford. Leffler says her dogs may have saved her life after they fought the bear that attacked her. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune] Checking her yard Monday night for a possible intruder, Cloris Leffler said she never could have imagined she and her two dogs would be attacked by a 150-pound black bear at her home along North Ross Lane in west Medford. Leffler’s encounter with the rogue bruin left deep bite wounds in her left leg and scratches on her left side, in addition to puncture wounds in at least one of her dogs Monday around 8:30 p.m. A mere 24 hours later and just 400 yards away, off Pinecroft Avenue near McAndrews Road, Medford police found a 148-pound female bear in a tree. Later determined to be the bear that attacked Leffler, the animal was shot after behaving aggressively while MPD officers waited for state wildlife officers to respond to the scene. Leffler, who was tending to her injuries Wednesday after a battery of tetanus and rabies shots and being placed on antibiotics, said she had been on high alert for a possible intruder throughout much of Monday after hearing strange noises near her cyclone privacy fence that morning. Walking outside to check on her property Monday evening, Leffler noticed her two pitbull-mix pups, 6-year-old Nala and 9-year-old Kalea, fixated on a tree at the end of her driveway. With lots of pedestrian traffic in the area, Leffler said, it’s not unusual for someone to sit near the tree to smoke or rest. “I had the dogs with me, and I was just checking the property. I was thinking there had been an intruder, and I wanted to discourage them from coming back,” she said Wednesday. “Both dogs were really attracted to the tree at the end of the driveway, but sometimes they do that. ... Nala didn’t really wanna let it go, which I thought was kind of weird, but I let it go.” Leffler grabbed her green-lid lawn recycle bin and pulled it around her property, into her backyard. Moments later, she heard a “loud ruckus” and saw the shadow of something large burst through an opening in the fence adjacent to the large tree. The bear, which Leffler estimated at under 6 feet, charged the 48-year-old, biting deep into her left leg and leaving scratches on her arm and left side. “It came through the fence down the side of the building and had to make a left turn to charge at me,” she said. In hindsight, Leffler said, she was grateful she couldn’t see the bear’s face — or fangs — prior to the attack. “It was dark outside, so I’m glad I couldn’t actually see the face, teeth, claws or whatever coming at me. I just realized what was coming so I turned to face it, and I just tried to brace myself,” she said. “Whatever was gonna happen was gonna happen.” Leffler’s two dogs immediately sprang to her rescue. “Both dogs just charged from both sides and attacked the bear. A wrought iron chair ended up getting knocked over, and as soon as I realized the bear got ahold of my Nala, I grabbed the chair up and I started hitting the bear over the head,” she said. “I saw the bear had my Nala girl. It got a tooth in her and through her collar. I think I got three or four swings in before it finally let go of my dog. Seeing that it had my Nala and knowing what could happen ... it was just what I had to do.” The entire episode lastied “maybe two minutes,” Leffler said. It was likely seconds between when the dogs coralled the bear in the corner of the fence and the bear slipping back over the fence. Leffler immediately called 911 and checked on her dogs, while alerting neighbors who had come outside to investigate the chaos. The bear scrambled across North Ross Lane and was hit by a car before continuing on. Twenty-four hours after the attack on Leffler, Medford police were called to Pinecroft Avenue at 9:42 p.m. by a resident who reported a bear in a tree in her front yard. “Upon arrival, officers set up a perimeter and called Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for assistance,” Medford police reported on its Facebook page. “As officers were waiting for assistance from OSP and ODFW, the bear started to climb out of the tree to flee. Officers on scene shot and killed the bear for the safety of the community.” OSP and ODFW claimed the bear for inspection, collecting evidence and confirming it was the bear who attacked Leffler Monday. ODFW spokesperson Meghan Dugan, in an email Wednesday, said the bear had no apparent injuries, was not lactating and showed no evidence of having had cubs this year. Dugan said the bear was too old to estimate its age until a pulled tooth can be analyzed, but the bear’s molars were “worn down a lot.” She noted, “ODFW fully supports MPD’s decision to kill this bear for public safety, as we do not relocate adult bears that are considered a human safety threat, or that are habituated, because they return or repeat the behavior elsewhere.” Leffler, who drove herself to the emergency room but was released hours later, said she was left Wednesday with feelings of gratitude for her dogs. “I just keep hearing the sound that bear made as it came through the fence,” she said. “The whole thing was just so lucky. Even for Nala, how it grabbed her, for her collar to be in the way. I am really glad both my dogs were with me when it happened.” Leffler said ODFW officials found no obvious bear attractants in her yard and found no explanation for the attack. She planned to take Nala to the vet to have her puncture wounds looked at. Leffler said she felt sorry for the bear after learning it had to be killed. “I did hear it was aggressive when it came down out of the tree, but to me that’s a given. If I’m a wild animal and people are waiting for me to come down out of the tree, I’m not gonna be passive about it. I know they felt it was warranted to shoot it, but I do feel bad for the bear. The whole situation was just very sad and unfortunate.” Leffler said extra treats and butt scratches were in order for her loyal canines. “I definitely think the outcome would have been much different if they hadn’t been with me,” she said. “They’re really good dogs.” ODFW said it had documented five black bear attacks in Oregon since 1988. The agency’s 2012 bear management plan documented four people injured by bears from 1988 to 2012, Dugan said. And a hiker was confirmed to have been injured by a bear near Creswell in 2020. There have been occasional unverified reports of people injured by a bear or that are not a clear attack, Dugan said. With a slew of recent bear and cougar reports around Medford and bear sightings reported in Central Point and Ashland, local law enforcement are encouraging citizens to keep a watchful eye. For tips on how to respond in the event of an encounter with wildlife, see dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/living_with/black_bears.asp To see ODFW 2021 bear management plan, go to https://dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/management_plans/docs/2012_Bear_Mgt_Plan_draft_21Mar2012b_X.pdf Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal