Bear attacks woman in Butler County CBS Pittsburgh Mar 6, 2024 A woman who survived a bear attack outside her Butler County home is sharing her story. KDKA-TV’s Ross Guidotti reports.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fZpWnZ84TA

The bear attacked victim Lee Ann Galante and her dog, Smokey, when she let her dog outside of her house on Bellefield Drive in Butler around 8:30 p.m. Before first responders arrived, Galante suffered lacerations to her head and one to her arm and was bleeding excessively. First responders controlled her bleeding upon arrival.

Galante’s dog was not injured, but Galante was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital and later Allegheny General Hospital. Galante is being treated for puncture wounds and lacerations to her head, neck, face, and arm, as well as broken bones in her face, per her surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Chen, reports CBS News.

“It was very terrifying,” Galante told CBS. “I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it. I couldn’t believe this was happening.”

Black bear Squirty, one of Ben Kilham’s cubs in rehabilitation center in Lyme, USA.File: Cheryl Senter/AP/Shutterstock

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Cheryl Senter/AP/Shutterstock (6366491k) Black bear Squirty, 13, one of Ben Kilham’s cub rehabilitation success stories, keeps an eye on her visitors as she heads back into the woods in Lyme, N.H., . Independent Wildlife Biologist, Ben Kilham, rehabilitates and researches black bears Ben Kilham, Lyme, USA

“She came up behind me and she pushed me down, and my face went smack right into our cement,” explained Galante of the mother bear and her three cubs.

She shared that she believes her dog Smokey distracted the mother bear, allowing her to run into her home for survival. “She was ready to charge again. Thank God we got in the house,” Galante said.

Stock image of black bear.Bryant Aardema/Getty

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Game Commission spokesperson Travis Lau said that the cubs could be euthanized or “tagged and transferred to the game lands, or Allegheny National Forest up in the center part of the region.”

“But I’m leaning more towards caution and probably euthanizing these cubs to test them for rabies just in case,” said Lau, per WTAE.

“This is the first bear attack we’ve had in our area, it’s a pretty rare incident,” said Butler Township police chief John Hays, reports Go Erie. “We get reports of bears quite often in the spring and the fall. I wouldn’t say we have a high concentration of bears, but they do come through.”

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Butler Township Police and the Pennsylvania Game Commission did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Wednesday.

source: people.com