A Southern California teenager fended off a mama bear that had been startled by the family dogs while walking along the home's backyard fence Monday. Surveillance video captured the bear and her two cubs ambling along when the dogs got wind of them and approached, barking, causing the cubs to run and their mother to start swiping at the dogs in an effort to keep them away from her little ones. Hailey Morinico, 17, tells ABC 7 she initially didn't even realize the animal was a bear when she leapt into action, shoving the bear off the fence.
"Honestly, I did not know it was a bear until right after I pushed it," she says. The dogs are OK, and Hailey, who fell from the effort of the shove, suffered scraped knees and a sprained finger on the hand that did the shoving. Experts tell CBS LA the black bears in the area, which is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, are not typically aggressive toward pets or people, and that this one was simply protecting her young. And one expert notes, "As the development has encroached into their native territory, you're going to have those encounters more and more." He recommends using a noisemaker or slingshot rather than physically engaging with a bear. (More California stories.)
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