WATCH: 17-year-old pushes protective mama bear out of yard to save her family’s dogs

BRADBURY, Calif. —

Hailey Morinico didn’t hesitate when she saw a large bear facing off with her family dogs from the top of a wall in their Southern California backyard.

“In that moment, I don’t have much time to think,” Morinico told KCAL-TV. “I run over to the bear, and the first thing I think to do is to push the bear off the ledge it’s standing on, and so, it will hopefully release my dog. And somehow, thank God, it works.”

Home surveillance video aired by the ABC 7 television station shows the mother bear perched atop top of the wall, swatting at a large black dog on the ground. Two bear cubs are seen behind the bear while four smaller dogs bark and dart around the yard.

Morinico sprints toward the bear, uses both hands to push the large bear off the wall and picks up one of the smaller dogs. She and the other dogs then run out of the video frame.

The bears disappear over a wall into a neighbor’s yard.

The news station reports the teen suffered a small scratch, but she and all of the dogs are OK.

Bradbury is a foothill community on the edge of Angeles National Forest.

Source: WCVB, Not edited by DogExpress staff