A 7-year-old girl who was nipped by a baby black bear is taking a series of painful rabies shots so the pudgy cub won't be killed.
"I just didn't want that cute baby bear to die," Juliette Harris said Monday night.Juliette, who lives near the Gila National Forest of southwestern New Mexico, spotted the cub in the woods May 5.
She was lugging the 8-pound cub home when it bit her hand. Her finger bled but didn't need stitches.
When state heath officials said the bear would have to be killed so it could be examined for rabies, Juliette made a deal: She would take seven rabies shots through a 5-inch needle if the bear was spared.
She's already had five and still has to undergo two more.
"Those needles hurt - but not that bad," Juliette said by phone from her home in Pinos Altos. "The first day I had to have one in my leg and one in my arm, which wasn't so good."
Her parents are paying for the shots, totaling more than $1,500.
Meanwhile, the female cub, whom Juliette has named "Stubby," was being cared for by Gila Wildlife Rescue of Silver City.
Juliette says she knows to stay away from bears but found the charming bundle of fur too much to resist.
"When I saw it there, I thought it was a puppy stuck under a fence," she said. "Then I pulled it's leg and oh, you should have seen how cute it was."