Wisconsin boy, 12, shoots bear as it mauls his father

A 12-year-old boy fatally shot a black bear as it was mauling his father in the US state of Wisconsin, say wildlife officials.

Owen Beierman, 12, took aim at the bear as it pinned down his dad while they were on a legal hunting trip.

"Owen was a hero," Ryan Beierman, 43, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "He shot that bear and killed it on top of me."

The attack happened in Siren, Burnett County, on 6 September, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The pair were hunting for black bear near the family's cabin when they spotted the 200lb (91kg) bruin.

Owen shot and injured the animal, which ran off into dense forest.

They gave chase, and as they entered a glade the animal charged at Mr Beierman from about 6ft (1.8m) away.

He said he fired eight shots at the bruin with his pistol, but missed.

The bear bit him in the abdomen, arm and leg.

"I started pistol-whipping him and it felt like I was striking a brick wall,” he told the newspaper.

He described seeing the flash from the muzzle of the boy's rifle.

"I was flat on my back and could feel the bullet going through the bear,'' Mr Beierman said.

He required stitches to reattach a flap of skin to his cheek, and had puncture wounds to his arm and legs.

Officials say bear attacks are very rare.

Nine such incidents were reported in the state between 2013-22, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.