John Swartz was left with a scar and a story after coming face-to-face with a black bear in his garage. The Pennsylvania man managed to escape, but only after the bear left its mark.
Swartz went into his garage around 8:45 p.m. one evening last week to turn off a hose. With no light, he stepped his way through the garage until he felt for the spigot. He bent down at knee level when the black bear turned and sunk its teeth into his head.
“It just blindsided me,” Swartz said on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Thursday. “I had no clue there was anything in there.”
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He said the bear was estimated to be between 250 and 300 pounds and was digging through garbage that was left in the garage.
Swartz told host Jesse Watters the bear shoved him against a shelving unit. He tried to run for safety but tripped over the bear while making his way to the house.
“It was such a blur in a matter of seconds,” he said.
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He made it back into the house and his wife called 911. He was then taken to Geisinger Medical Center for treatment.
Swartz said he didn’t know he had stumbled over the animal until days later when he watched home surveillance footage that captured part of the incident.
Though he had paw marks on his shoulders and wounds on his head, Swartz said he’s doing better.
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“I do have a gash to my forehead and one deep one in the center of [the] top of my head,” he said.
Swartz said the garbage, which lured the bear into his garage, is not normally there.
“It’s usually taken down to the end of the driveway in the evening for Friday morning pickup,” he said. “It rained that evening, so it remained there. And, of course, that was just what the bear was looking for.”
The Pennsylvania Game Commission told Fox News Digital its troopers responded to the couple’s home for assistance. The agency has set up a trap to capture the bear responsible.
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Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
