Police say a Montana woman fended off a bear attack with an unlikely weapon - a courgette.
Missoula County Sheriff's Lieutenant Rich Maricelli says a 90kg black bear attacked one of the woman's dogs just after midnight yesterday on the back porch of her home about 25km west of Missoula.
When the woman, whom police did not name, tried to separate the animals, the bear bit her in the leg.
Maricelli says the woman reached for the nearest object at hand on the porch's railing - a large courgette that she had harvested from her garden.
The woman flung the vegetable at the bear, striking it and forcing it to flee.
Maricelli says the woman did not need medical attention. Wildlife officials were trying to locate the bear today.
