‘Hero’ teenager shoves bear swiping at family dogs in yard, California video shows

Update: Should you fight a bear? Wildlife experts give tips after video of teen pushing bear

When her dogs began raising a ruckus in the backyard of her Southern California home while she gardened with her family Monday afternoon, Citlally Morinico didn’t think much of it.

“We thought they were barking at the dogs next door,” Morinico told McClatchy News on Tuesday.

But when Hailey Morinico, her 17-year-old daughter, went to check out the noise, she discovered a bear atop a wall swiping at the family’s four dogs.

“I’m like, that’s a funny looking dog,” Hailey said in a TikTok video about the 2:40 p.m. incident.

“Immediately she reacted and with superhuman strength she pushed the bear and rescued the dogs,” Citlally told McClatchy News.

A home security video shows Hailey dashing toward the bear, which appears to have been defending a cub, and shoving it off the wall and out of the yard.

“Push a bear, push an apex predator, man,” Hailey said in her TikTok video. But she added that she didn’t have to shove the bear very hard to knock it off balance.

In the video, Hailey then picks up one of the smaller dogs and runs back inside the house with the others. One dog suffered scratches and Hailey sprained a finger and knee, Citlally said.

“My daughter is a hero,” Citlally told McClatchy News. “My daughter literally made eye contact with death and pushed it off a ledge.”

On her Facebook post of the video, Citlally called it “for me, one of the scariest moments in life.”

The encounter took place in Bradbury, a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles. In her TikTok video, Hailey said bears are regular visitors to the area.

This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 7:57 AM with the headline "‘Hero’ teenager shoves bear swiping at family dogs in yard, California video shows."