BRADBURY, Calif. – Whether it was bravery or just plain instincts, a teenage girl was able to fight off a bear that was attacking her dogs with her bare hands.
Viral video shows the mother bear and her cubs climbing over a wall to get into 17-year-old Hailey Morinico’s backyard in Bradbury, California.
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Her four dogs were first to spot the creatures, running toward the bear family while barking and lunging at the wild animals.
The cubs were quick to scram but the mama bear started taking swipes at Hailey’s pups. Then, Hailey came to the rescue.
“Honestly, I did not know it was a bear until right after I pushed it. I didn’t register in my head that it was a bear,” she told ABC 7. “I was like, ‘It’s an animal and it’s taking my child,’ and I pushed the bear and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just pushed a bear.’”
The footage shows her squaring right up to the furry creature and pushing it over the edge. As the mama bear fell to the other side of the wall, Hailey corralled her dogs and ran back inside to safety.
Hailey sprained her finger and suffered a few scrapes on her knee in the process but otherwise she and her family’s dogs were uninjured.
Hailey’s mother, Citlally Morinico, said she was shocked when she saw the surveillance video.
“I just break down every time I see (it). It’s just horrifying to watch,” Morinico said.
Hailey said she couldn’t stand the idea of her mom’s service dog or the other three canines getting hurt.
“I didn’t want to know what would happen if the bear hurt her (the service dog) or even took her, so I had to do what I had to do,” Hailey said.
To read more on this story from ABC 7, click here.