Animal lovers will truly do anything to protect their beloved furry family members. A few days ago (I'm late to the news) a Tiktok went viral showing a seventeen-year-old girl racing forward to shove a bear who was swatting at her dogs.
The Tiktok, which is now global and being covered by major news sources like Yahoo! News, BBC, and NBC News, showed the amazing footage, which was captured on security camera. Monday, Haily Morinico noticed her dogs going crazy in the backyard of her home in Bradbury, California, which is known for bears. (Or at least it was when I lived closeby).
In a recent Tiktok detailing what happened, Hailey says her dogs had charged at the cubs who ran away, When the mother bear pawed at her mother's service dog, Valentina and tried to pick up another dog, she'd leapt into action.
If you've seen the footage, it is incredible. One of the dogs was moments from possible death, and according to experts, Hailey could have been, too. The Tiktok has now been viewd over 18.6 million times. Here's the link from Instagram.
Luckily, besides "screwing" her knee and jamming her finger as she shoved the bear, everyone is fine.
"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," she says in the video. "And to be honest, I don't think I pushed her that hard. I just pushed her enough to make her lose her balance. So she drops my dog and I run outta there."
Christopher Nyerges, a naturalist, gives some advice to pet owners in the wake of the near-disaster. "I'm happy that nothing bad happened, but if you live in those communities, you need to be constantly alert that as the development has encroached into their native territory, you're going to have those encounters more and more," he said.
I absolutely agree with Christopher. California is known for bears, and while most wouldn't expect to see them, you might be in for a nasty shock. As for Hailey, I also agree with her approach. I'm positive I would push a bear without blinking, too, if it was about to grab one of my dogs.
What would you have done? What are you thoughts?
https://news.yahoo.com/california-teen-shoves-bear-protect-223029767.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/01/1002197457/girl-shoves-a-bear-to-save-her-family-pets
https://depositphotos.com/36840391/stock-photo-brown-bear.html