Homeowner relives horror attack by protective black mama bear who knocked her to the ground and started biting her head in her own backyard: ‘I thought she was going to scalp me’
- Lee Ann Galante was mauled in her home in Butler Township, Pennsylvania
Terrified homeowner has described her horror after she was attacked by a protective mother bear who started biting her head as she walked her dog in her backyard.
Lee Ann Galante thought the black bear was going to scalp her Tuesday night during the brutal mauling at her home in Western Pennsylvania’s Butler Townshipi.
The 55-year-old was walking her Pomeranian named Smokie outside when she heard a commotion and knew the dog was in danger.
Galante then saw the silhouette of three bear cubs in a neighbor’s tree before their angry mother appeared on the scene.
“I just see this big bear jump over the fence, and there’s Smokie. So I start yelling, “Smokie, Smokie,” she told the local TV news station.
‘Then she grabbed me by the back of my head and pulled so hard I thought I was going to be scalped.’
Lee Ann Galante thought the black bear was going to scalp her during the brutal mauling at her Butler Township home Tuesday night. In the photo: Galante in the hospital remembers the attack
The 55-year-old was walking her dog Smokie outside. She heard a commotion and knew the Pomeranian was in danger
During an emotional interview from her hospital bed, where she is covered in cuts and bruises, Galante described how the bear lunged at her and knocked her to the ground.
She told CBS News, “She got behind me and pushed me down, and my face fell right into our cement. She was very powerful and very angry.”
Galante said the bear kept shifting her focus from her to her 6-pound Pomeranian and noticed her arm was bitten during the attack.
She told how she managed to crawl back to her house from the back deck and call 911. Galante was hospitalized and received dozens of surgical staples in the back of her head.
‘She has quite a few stab wounds on the back of her neck, on her arm itself and quite large tears and cuts on her scalp. And she also has several broken bones in her nose and face,” said AHN trauma surgeon Dr. Jennifer Chen.
Galante’s backyard. The 55-year-old spotted the silhouette of three bear cubs in a neighbor’s tree before their angry mother arrived on the scene
One of the bears in a tree after the attack. The mother bear continued to be aggressive and was euthanized by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The cubs have been sedated and are expected to be released at an unknown location
The mother bear and her three cubs were found in a tree in the immediate area after the attack.
The mother bear continued to be aggressive and was euthanized by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
The cubs have been sedated and are expected to be released at an unknown location.
The Game Commission said the bear was likely protective of her cubs and was hungry.
One of Galante’s neighbors, Michael Vero, said it was “unnerving to hear her scream” during the attack, adding that bears had been in the area for a few weeks and he was concerned about safety of his children.
‘I was tense at the time; Now that they’re out of here, I feel a little better,” he said.
Last May, a black bear attacked two young children who were playing in the driveway outside their home in Wright Township, Pennsylvania.
The children, ages 5 and 14 months, were treated for “bites and/or scratches” and released from Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the black bear population in Pennsylvania has increased from about 4,000 in the 1970s to about 18,000.
Black bears can weigh up to 600 pounds and are rarely aggressive toward humans.