In a quiet Pennsylvania neighborhood, Lee Ann Galante’s peaceful evening turned into a nightmare when she found herself face-to-face with a mother bear in her backyard. When her life hung in the balance, it was her eight-pound Pomeranian, Smokie, who stepped up as an unlikely hero. Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, Smokie’s bravery and determination distracted the bear and allowed Galante to escape with his life. This heart-wrenching story of survival highlights the unbreakable bond between humans and their furry companions and shows the remarkable courage that can emerge in the face of danger. As Galante and Smokie continue to recover from their ordeal, their story serves as a poignant reminder of the extraordinary feats that can be achieved through love and loyalty.
A Pennsylvania woman was attacked in her backyard by a mother bear who tried to protect her but was spared death by an unlikely childhood hero. Smokie, an eight-pound Pomeranian, howled at three larger-than-life figures in the trees as something far more terrifying jumped the fence and pounced on his human mother, Lee Ann Galante.
Galante believed she would be beheaded to death with her head trapped in the powerful teeth of an American black bear. However, the small black dog proved to be a formidable foe and caught the bear’s attention, allowing Galante to escape the bear’s deadly grip. Read how this little hero saved his mother!
In Butler Township, Pennsylvania, people were talking about a mother grizzly bear and her three cubs wreaking havoc in the weeks before the vicious bear attack on March 5.
The family of American black bears hadn’t been seen in weeks, and Lee Ann Galante, whose home is in a wooded area, said she thought the bears had “moved on.”
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Unfortunately, however, she was proven wrong. Galante let her little black Pomeranian, Smokie, out in the yard for his nightly bathroom break the night he molted. The talkative Galante, 55, says Smokie was barking tonight at a tree in her neighbor’s yard, which is fenced off from her own.
That’s when she noticed three shadowy figures in a tree.Just moments after witnessing the “huge” cubs, an even scarier object jumped her fence. “I saw Smokie and this big bear coming over the fence right out of the shadows. Then I started yelling, ‘Smokie, Smokie,'” the woman told NBC News. She continues, “I didn’t want her to eat my baby, and if she took one bite, it would be dead.”
She was almost scalped.
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The mother bear pounced on Galante, pinning her face down to the concrete of her back porch. “It happened so quickly, she was really combative. Galante told local television that “she was all over me.” “He bites the back of my head so hard I thought he was going to scalp me.
She goes on to recall her horrific encounter, saying, “I just kept thinking, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. This can’t be happening. I’m being attacked by a bear. This is it, I’m going to die, I thought.’However, the brave little dog had other ideas and “kept distracting” the approximately 350-kilogram larger black bear. Galante claimed the bear repeatedly shifted its attention from her to Smokie in an attempt to distract the vicious animal.
The bear approached Smokie briefly, but she soon turned her attention back to Galante. The vicious beast pounced on her, knocking her unconscious and grabbing her left arm. “I was really taken with her. She bit my hand. The woman remarked, ‘She was all over me.’
Smokie relentlessly distracted the bear long enough for Galante to climb up, pick up her stuffed animal, and run inside. Galante slammed the door after she and her dog were safely inside her home. “I was like, oh my god, what if he’s right behind us,” Galante said. “I’m sure we both would have died if we hadn’t gotten that break from her. He continues, “It could be seen that she was about to attack me again.
The woman received care at Butler Memorial Hospital after her call for help. NBC reports that she had “dozens of staples on the back of her head, a broken nose, cuts in her mouth, stab wounds to her arm, and scrapes and scratches all over her body.”
“He set me free.”
Galante is almost fully recovered today and Smokie, who suffered a scratch on his back, is also healing nicely. Galante says, “I’m so thankful [Smokie] wasn’t really hurt,” attributing her survival to the brave dog. “He saved me and I saved him.”
The mother grizzly and her three “huge” cubs were discovered in a nearby tree by Pennsylvania Game Commission officials, who said “the bear continued her aggression.” The mother bear was put down by the Game Commission, which states that bear attacks are extremely unusual. The puppies were sedated and taken to another location.
We hope the cubs are doing well in the wild as authorities say she was old enough to thrive on her own!
In the harrowing ordeal Lee Ann Galante faced in her backyard, it was the brave acts of her tiny Pomeranian, Smokie, that proved instrumental in saving her life. Despite facing a formidable opponent in the form of a mother bear, Smokie fearlessly distracted the bear, allowing Galante to escape and seek safety. Galante’s account of the terrifying encounter serves as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of wildlife encounters, even in residential areas. Fortunately, both Galante and Smokie are on the road to recovery, with Galante expressing immense gratitude for his furry companion’s heroic intervention. While the incident resulted in the unfortunate death of the bear, the authorities took the necessary steps to ensure the safety of the cubs. As Galante and Smokie heal from their injuries, their remarkable story serves as a testament to the bond between humans and animals and shows the potential for extraordinary acts of courage in the face of danger.