Depending on where you live, there are certain things you have to be careful of when you're outside. Lately, it's been cicadas for a good chunk of the US, but don't count the bigger animals out.
That's what one California teen girl discovered when she heard a commotion on her patio. She looked out and found a brown bear perched on a ledge, swiping at her dogs. She sprung into action, shoving the bear before getting her dogs inside to safety as others screamed in the background.
The teen, whose name is Hailey, shared the video with her cousin, who knew just how to give it the TikTok treatment. Now the video is going viral as people wonder just how she got the nerve to confront that brown bear.
If you think dodging cicadas in your yard or fighting off mosquitoes is annoying, try fighting off a bear. That's what one teen did after following her instincts to save her beloved pets. In case the story sounds too hard to believe, there's video showing how it all went down.
It was Memorial Day weekend, and Hailey Morinico, 17, was home with her family in the San Gabriel Valley. A brown bear and her two cubs helped themselves into Hailey's garden area, only to be met by the family's four barking dogs. The cubs scampered away, but mama bear was not afraid.
Two of the larger dogs ran off on their own, but the smaller ones didn't. Hailey ran to the rescue, shoving the bear without a second thought.
"I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a bear and it is taking my dog. It is lifting it up off the ground,'" she told NBC Los Angeles.
"In that split second, I decided to push the bear, like it was nothing, apparently. I pick up my other dog and I scram."
The bear lost its balance and fell off the wall, but it peeked its head over one more time before leaving, indicating it wasn't injured. Thankfully, all four dogs, one of which is Hailey's mother's service dog, escaped unscathed. Hailey herself walked away with just a sprained finger and a scraped knee.
The scene was captured by the family's home surveillance system, and Hailey's cousin Brenda gave the video the TikTok treatment.
"My cousin Hailey yeeted a bear off her fence today and saved her dogs. How was your Memorial Day?!" she captioned the video.
Though this story had a happy ending for everyone, Hailey doesn't recommend anyone follow her lead. It's an important reminder to pet parents that as the days get warmer and longer, you're likely to see more of your area's wildlife around. Keep yourself and your pets safe.
