A bear broke into a Colorado couple's home. They fought it off with a baseball bat and their bare fists

A Colorado couple fought a bear with their bare fists and a baseball bat on Monday evening, authorities said, driving the animal and her cub out of their home.

The 71-year-old man ran into the mother bear when investigating strange noises he heard while watching TV with his wife, according to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife news release.

Jon Johnson found the source of the noise: the bear and her cub were eating bread in the kitchen, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office told KCNC-TV.

"It was growling, I was growling," Johnson told the station. "Between the two of us, we were having a lot of attitude."

Then, the bear attacked. Describing the fight as a boxing match, Parks and Wildlife said Johnson suffered cuts to his face, chest and both arms.

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His wife, George Field, told the station she was scared for his life. She rushed to the kitchen and hit the bear with a bat multiple times.

"All I remember seeing was a big brown blob in front of me," Field said. "I empowered myself. I’ve never been that strong. I whacked that bear as strong as I could… you would have thought I was a Louisville slugger."

The bear and her cub then ran away, Parks and Wildlife said, ending the attack that began at about 8:45 p.m. in Pine, about 45 miles southwest of Denver.

Parks and Wildlife searched for the bear and euthanized one the next morning, per agency policy. A forensics investigation will determine if it was the same bear, the news release said, because bears who attack and injure humans are euthanized in Colorado. The cub has not been found.

Medics treated Johnson at the scene, the agency said. The couple told KCNC their bird feeders may have attracted the bear.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bear attack: Colorado couple uses baseball bat, bare fists