Dorothea Taylor, 85, defended her husband from an angry moose by grabbing a shovel to beat off the crazed animal in Alaska.
The couple were out walking their dogs when the mammal ran down a hill and launched a ferocious attack on her husband George Murphy, 82.
When she heard the barks of her dogs, Mrs Taylor ran to the boot of her pick-up truck where she grabbed a shovel to warn off the angry moose.
Her husband described his wife’s actions as ‘heroic’ after she repeatedly hit the moose over the head with the shovel to save him from a vicious stamping.
The retired engineer told Anchorage Daily News: ‘He spotted me and he started to come right after me. So I was trying to get to the truck. But I didn’t make it.
‘He started to stomp. Then he turned around and stomped again. And there was nothing I could do. I was afraid he was going to kill me.’
Despite breaking seven broken ribs Mr Murphy looks set to make a full recovery at the Providence Alaska Medical Centre.
‘That was a pretty hard thing for anyone to do, to walk up on a moose like that. Heck, all she had was a shovel,’ concluded Mr Murphy.
