Gatlinburg cat scares bear away from home – WVLT

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) – On Pine Drive in Gatlinburg, Suzanne Whaley and her husband, Ray, welcomed a visitor to their home after the 2016 wildfires.
A stray cat wandered to their front door, so the couple fed the cat and kept an eye out to make sure it wasn’t someone’s cat that gotten lost.
They affectionately called it “fat cat,” and she soon began to show she was tougher than most.
The Whaley’s home is just feet from a popular walking trail for black bears and over the years, fat cat has had encounters with them.
“She turns into a lion or a tiger or whatever and just goes after them,” said Whaley.
When she’s inside, fat cat swipes at the glass just inches from the bear. When outside, fat cat will stand her ground and even lunge and swipe at the bears until they turn and run away.
“I always say that they act like a young boy that’s been told by his mother to never hit a girl because she will slap the fire out of a bear and the bear will just. Now they’ve chased her a few times, but usually she does the chasing,” said Whaley.
Whaley said the bear encounters happen almost every day as of late, and fat cat has yet to have a scratch on her.
She added that if they see a bear is outside, they try to get the cat indoors but they feel this cat can handle her own when needed.

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