Animals

Girl who fought huge bear to save her dogs ‘was close to death’


The black bear started snapping at the dogs as it tried to break into a garden (Picture: bakedlikepie/TikTok)

A teenage girl who shoved a black bear off her garden wall said she was acting on instinct to protect her beloved pet dogs.

Hailey Morinico, 17, was left with a sprained finger and scraped knee, and her dog Valentina emerged with only minor scratches.

They both appeared on Good Morning Britain with her mum Citlally who gushed about her daughter’s bravery.

‘After my panic attack I looked at the video and it was incredible and we were pretty much in tears,’ Citlally said.

‘I was very thankful that she was fine and all I wanted to do was hug her. I think I went to her room like 50 times during the night and just gave her a hug.

‘I still get a knot in my throat. Every time I watch it I see how close she was to death and it’s just so scary.’

Teen who pushed bear to save dogs explains her thinking

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Hailey shows off her injuries from fighting the bear (Picture: TikTok)

Five of the family’s dogs started barking and rushed out to the back garden to confront the bear as it walked along the brick wall with two of its cubs.

Hailey, whose heroic act went viral on TikTok, then ran out and admitted she thought it was a ‘funny looking dog’ at first.

Black bears are not typically aggressive and the animal was protecting her own baby cubs which can be seen fleeing in the footage.

‘The first idea that popped into my head was to push it and I’m just so lucky that everything worked out fine,’ she said.

‘It’s just crazy and all happened so quickly. I didn’t register a bear could potentially be a dangerous animal that could really harm or kill me.’

After pushing the bear Hailey had the briefest of reality checks and realised she had to get inside to safety.

She said: ‘I just saw that it was picking up my dog Valentina and I had to do what I had to do to save her, get her out [the bear’s] grasp and all come home safe.

‘It was just after I pushed her. I had one second to think, like “Oh my god I just did that.”

‘But afterwards I had no time to think and ponder what just happened.

‘I grabbed my dogs; as you can see in the video I’m trying to push them away from the bear and I ran back inside.

‘That’s when I had to explain to my mom and all my family what I had just done.’

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