Around 8:30 one evening, Lee Ann Galante, 55, left the house to take out her black Pomeranian for a little backyard relief. Looking up for a noise in the tree, she suddenly saw the unmistakable outline of a large black bear. While Butler Township, PA, is not well known for its black bear population, it’s still well within their natural habitat. With little warning, the bear descended and proceeded to go after her dog.
Yelling and causing a disturbance to get the bear away, Galante suddenly found herself under attack.
“I was not gonna let her eat my dog… She pushed me down and my face went smack into our cement pad that we have off the step. Then she got me by the back of my head and she was pulling so hard on it — I thought I was gonna get scalped. She pulled so hard that it did pull the skin from the back of my ear, and I have stitches back there. I was bleeding like crazy. I have so many staples in the back of my head.”
When Pennsylvania Game Commission authorities responded, they quickly located the mother bear as well as her three cubs. Still showing aggressive intentions, officers tranquilized the bear and her cubs. Ultimately, the four were relocated to a more remote and more plentiful part of the state.
For local authorities, this is something unprecedented. Long-time citizens of the area say they not only have never seen something like this happen, but they’ve also never even heard of it happening around there. Unfortunately, it serves as a reminder about the dangers of nature and being aware of your surroundings.
