• March 28, 2024

Could college student, a professional runner beat two charging black bears?

 Could college student, a professional runner beat two charging black bears?

Professional runner Moninda Marube outruns two black bears chasing him – photo credit – YouTube – Pinterest

When you are out for a summer run, probably the last thing you may think of encountering is not one, but two bears. So, for a professional runner who is a college student at the University of Maine, he had to wonder if he was fast enough to beat feet and outrun the two highly motivated black bears chasing him, according to Patch.

Moninda Marube, a runner from Kenya, may have had a lot of other ideas moving around in his mind, while he was out training, but as the two large beasts approached him, running for safety and his life rose quickly to the top of the list. The Kenyan speedster quickly evaluated his options and chose to go with his God-given skill sets…run for his life.

The dangerous scenario was clear. The bears were lurking 20 yards from him and there was fortunately 20 yards in exactly the opposite direction. The young man dashed for the house and took refuge on the house’s screened porch with the bears closing in on him within ten yards of his position.

Most wardens advise those who encounter black bears to make a lot of noise and give the bears the appearance that they are much larger than they are, while retreating slowly. In addition, if a black bear approaches they also advise that people stand their ground and fight back if the bear attacks them.

Of course, that advice may very well go out the window if there are two bears who are intent on attacking and making the individual their next meal. According to Patch the marathoner “initially engaged in a stare-down with the bears but the bears charged the moment he turned his back on them.”

In the seconds that he had to make a decision he realized that climbing a tree was not an option since bears can climb, and a nearby lake was not an option, because he cannot swim.

So Marube ran and fortunately for him the two bears did not try to break through the fragile porch screens. Good luck was on his side, because he said the bears sniffed around for a while before they wandered away.

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