Kimble said, "My wife, Barb, and I had just gone finished swimming with our two sons Jordan and Cody and began to set up for a picnic. Cody is just four and he loves honey. He's a big Winnie The Pooh fan and always carries a stuffed pooh bear and jar of honey every where he goes. I put down a blanket on the ground and spread out the food with a big jar of honey. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a big animal is looking up at me. It looked like a cross between a skunk and a medium-sized dog. I'd never seen anything like it!
"I tried to shoo it away but he just kept coming at us. My wife grabbed the kids and ran toward the car. I grabbed the jar of honey and ran to act as a decoy. It worked, too... he lunged at me and took me down to the ground. We starting wrestling for the jar and my highschool wrestling training must have kicked in, because before I knew it, i had that badger in a full nelson. After several minutes of struggling, he tapped the ground in submission, so I let him go. I've never been so scared in my life. He was a worthy opponent."
Barbra Kimble was able to get the children to safety and call 911 for help. A conservation officer happened to be nearby and arrived on the scene a short time later and cited Kimble for animal cruelty.
Braddock said, "We have never even had a report of a Honey Badger in West Virginia before. I didn't even think they were in this part of the country. Heck, I didn't even think they were in this part of the world."
"I don't why Mr Kimble just didn't give that Honey Badger the jar of honey, but when he admitted to wrestling with the Honey Badger that amounted to abuse or animal cruelty. We can't have people thinking it's okay to lure animals into their camping areas for improptu wrestling matches."
Mike Kimble said, "I'm going to fight the ticket, I wasn't selling tickets to a WWE match! I was trying to save our honey! I mean, I might be willing to wrestle a small bear, but I've heard Honey Badgers can kill Cobras. I'm lucky to be alive! I was afraid my son, Cody would come out of this traumatized and never go camping with me again, but he wants to go next month. He's pretty proud of his old man."
Warning notices have been put in place at Summersville Lake to be on the lookout for Honey Badgers. Tourists are also being discouraged from packing honey for picnics to the lake.
