A video has gone viral of a California teenager fending off a mother bear who appeared ready to kill several barking dogs who confronted her and her cubs.
The Memorial Day incident happened in Bradbury, California, as CBS LA reports, and the video posted to TikTok shows 17-year-old Hailey Morinico running out to rescue the family's four dogs as the bear is swatting at them and appears to try to grab one of the smaller dogs.
The mother bear is walking along a wall at the edge of the home's property with two small cubs underneath her. The largest of the four dogs runs out and begins angrily barking at the bear, causing the two cubs to run the other direction. The mama bear then begins swatting at the dog, and three smaller dogs join in the confrontation with one, a little Yorkshire terrier, appearing to get caught by one of the bear's paws.
Morinico then runs out and shoves the bear off the wall, in order to save the dog.
@bakedlikepie My cousin Hailey yeeted a bear off her fence today and saved her dogs. How was your Memorial Day?! (WTF?!) ##ohno ##badass ##brave ##fight ##bear
♬ Oh No - Kreepa
As she later said on TikTok, "I go over to the bear, I look it in the eyes, and the first thing I think to do is push it. Push a bear, push an apex predator, man. And to be honest, I don’t think I like pushed her that hard, I just pushed her enough to make her lose her balance.”
Luckily, Morinico walked away with just a scraped knee and a sprained finger.
@bakedlikepie ##duet with @tempurashrimp here is the famous cousin Hailey! ##bear ##ohno ##cousinhailey
♬ original sound - secks haver 😎
Morinico's mother also posted the video to Facebook, saying, "My child... just saved our dog with super human strength. For me one of the scariest moments in life." She tagged several local news stations, leading to the video now appearing on TV.
