Boy fights off bear in his tent

A TEENAGE boy on a wilderness expedition in Alaska fought off a 400lb brown bear that wandered into his tent while he was sleeping.

The boy, 15, whose name has not been released, awoke to find the bear sitting at his feet.

While attempting to back out of his tent, the boy was bitten on the forearm. He decided to fight back, punching the bear with his left hand six times, Adam Benson, an Alaska state trooper said yesterday.

When the teenager eventually managed to get out of the tent and tried to run away, the bear bit him again, this time below his ribs, leaving six puncture wounds, added Mr Benson.

The boy retaliated by punching the brown bear again, and once more she let him go - but this time she chased him around a nearby cluster of trees.

Eventually, the boy remembered he had a horn in his camping gear, grabbed it and blew it in the bear’s muzzle in an attempt to scare her off.

The noise woke the other members of the expedition, which was organised by Crossing Wilderness Expeditions for Youth - a programme which caters for emotionally troubled youths.

Steve Prysunka, the programme’s director, said the expedition leaders blasted the bear with pepper spray and fired a flare at her feet, prompting the animal to eventually turn around and leave the campsite.

Later on Saturday, following the morning attack, officials found the bear elsewhere in the campsite area on Deer Island in south-east Alaska and killed her.

The boy was flown out to a hospital, where he was treated. He was later sent home to give his wounds time to heal, Mr Prysunka said.

"I think [the boy] is the biggest, baddest thing in the woods," he said.

"After all, he punched the bear."