Woman Uses Jiu-Jitsu Training to Kick and Block Mother Bear’s Swipes to Fend It Off During Attack

Katelynn Lane said she survived a bear attack in near Bells Flats, Alaska with help from her dog Vesper and thanks to her jiu-jitsu training, which helped to fend off a mother bear.

Alaska's News Source; Getty

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Katelynn Lane said she survived a bear attack in Alaska with help from her dog Vesper and thanks to her jiu-jitsu training

Lane was walking near a salmon stream when she encountered a Kodiak brown bear sow with her cubs, who attacked her, and she used a jiu-jitsu defensive kick to fend it off

She said she plans to resume walks in the future with added precautions like bear bells for herself and Vesper

A woman has her jiu-jitsu training and her dog to thank for surviving a recent bear attack in Alaska.

Katelynn Lane was on a routine walk with her dog Vesper near Bells Flats — a small community located 10 miles from the town of Kodiak, Alaska — on Tuesday, Aug. 18, when a bear attacked her, according to Alaska News Source and Alaska Native News.

The Kodiak Police Department (KPD)’s preliminary investigation found that a woman — later identified as Lane — had been walking her dog alongside a salmon stream when she came upon a Kodiak brown bear sow with her cubs, according to Alaska Native News.

Lane did not bring any bear deterrents, so she attempted standard bear safety protocols, including making noise and standing her ground, she told Alaska News Source. However, this did not stop the bear from making its way to her and attacking her, the outlet reported.

She said she had some help getting away thanks to her dog Vesper, who started barking and helped to divert the bear’s attention away from her. She was then able to scramble up over a vertical slope and gain a better position.

“The moment I knew Vesper was helping me was when she turned back and tried to go after him, which allowed me to turn around and face her,” Lane recalled to Alaska News Source. “Yeah, those couple of seconds where she was distracted was what I would say saved me.”

“And I thought at that time, okay, maybe I have a second to try to gain my bearings and find something to hide behind or put between us,” she added.

The mother bear eventually returned her attention to her on the hill and grabbed her right leg. She told Alaska News Source she had been on her back with her feet pointed downslope, which allowed her to use leverage to deliver a defensive kick directly to the bear’s face.

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“Thinking back on it now, I have done a small amount of jiu-jitsu training actually, and that position I was in was exactly how you would create space in jiu-jitsu, right? You use one leg to kind of block, and you kick with the other leg,” Lane shared.

“I don’t know if that was what made that happen or if that was entirely instinctual, but if a person wanted to attribute it to some sort of training, then I suppose that would be it,” she added.

The kick seemed to work in fending the bear off, and the creature left with its cubs. Lane told Alaska News Source that the whole encounter “probably lasted three minutes at most” and she had been on FaceTime with her father at the time. Afterwards, she called 911 and took refuge at a nearby home until police and first responders arrived.

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She sustained deep bruising and minor scratches along the backs of both of her legs, according to photos she shared with Alaska News Source. Her dog Vesper was unharmed, the outlet reported.

PEOPLE has reached out to the KPD for comment on this incident, which is still under investigation.

Lane said she plans to continue walks with Vesper again as soon as she is fully recovered — but with a few extra precautionary measures.

“I need to just build up that confidence again and I will be geared up,” Lane said. “I already ordered myself some bear bells. I ordered Vesper some bear bells as well, so we’ll be nice and loud next go around.”

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