A 10-year-old boy was nearly mauled to death by a black bear while playing in his grandparents’ garden.

The child was reportedly visiting his grandparents in Morris, Connecticut, when a black bear walked up to their house and attacked the boy who was jumping on a trampoline.

After biting the boy in his leg, the bear tried to drag him away from the garden and the house. While the animal would likely succeed in its attempts, the bear was stopped by the boy’s grandfather, 69-year-old James Butler.

As Butler, who is in a wheelchair, explained, he wheeled himself into the garden and launched a piece of metal at the bear’s head in an attempt to distract and scare it.

While the beast briefly retreated, it attacked the boy for the second time just moments later.

Fortunately, one of the neighbors also intervened and made the bear walk away by shouting and swinging a metal bar.

After its second retreat, the animal tried to enter the family’s house via a wheelchair ramp but was shooed away by a state trooper who just arrived at the property.

Following the attack on the 10-year-old, the bear was put down by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection who tracked it in the forest near the family’s home.

Fortunately, the boy survived the attack and was rushed to the hospital for treatment of claw marks, bite marks, and a punctured thigh.

Recalling the horrific bear attack, Butler explained how he was doing yard work in his wheelchair when the animal appeared out of nowhere and lunged at his grandson.

“I heard him yell ‘bear’ and when I looked up, I saw his leg in the bear’s mouth and the bear trying to drag him across the lawn,” he said in an interview with the Republican American.

While he and his neighbor managed to repel the bear two times, the persistent “rogue male” – as described by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection – attempted to enter the family’s house.

“We thought he was coming through the screen. No doubt he was a big threat,” Butler added.

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