Hello, we’re Nicole and Dock, and we live in the foothills of Arcadia, California, with our beloved dog, Tom Petty.

Recently, we experienced one of the most frightening moments of our lives when Tom had an unexpected encounter with a black bear in our own backyard.

That night, before letting Tom outside to go potty, we took a flashlight and carefully checked the backyard for bears. We didn’t see anything, so we thought it was safe to let him out. What we couldn’t see was that a bear was hiding in a corner of our yard.

Tom discovered the bear before we did and, following his instincts to protect his home and his family, confronted it.

The encounter escalated quickly. Tom suffered several puncture wounds around his neck, along with bruising around his ribs. We rushed him to the emergency vet, where he underwent emergency surgery to treat his injuries.

We are incredibly grateful that Tom survived and is home with us recovering. Unfortunately, his emergency treatment and surgery resulted in approximately $4,700 in veterinary bills, which is much more than we are able to manage on our own right now.

Tom is such a brave, loving, and deeply cherished member of our family. We want to make sure he receives everything he needs to heal comfortably and make a full recovery.

We also want to make something very clear: we do not blame the bear.

We live in the foothills, where black bears are part of the natural environment, and we understand that this bear was simply looking for food and acting on instinct. Even after Tom confronted the bear as it attempted to leave, the bear made only a few defensive strikes to get away. The situation could have ended very differently, and we are incredibly grateful that both Tom and the bear survived the encounter.

We are asking for help covering approximately $5,000 in emergency veterinary care, surgery, medications, and follow-up treatment for Tom. Any contribution, no matter the amount, would mean so much to our family. If you aren’t able to donate, simply sharing Tom’s story would also be an incredible help.

If we are fortunate enough to raise more than the cost of Tom’s medical care, the additional funds will go toward making our backyard safer for everyone. We would like to install motion-sensor lighting, repair and reinforce areas of our fencing, and bear-proof our property as much as possible. Our goal is not only to protect Tom and ourselves, but also to discourage bears from seeing our backyard as a reliable place to find food and hopefully prevent another encounter like this from happening.

Thank you for taking the time to read Tom’s story, for caring about our sweet boy, and for helping us get him back on his feet.

With gratitude,

Nicole & Dock