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Lee Ann Galante was letting her dog out of the backdoor of her home on Bellefield Drive, Butler Township at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the bear attack began, as detailed in a release by the area Chief of Police John Hays.
Galante didn't see the bear cubs (known as yearlings) in a tree before the mama bear (a sow) attacked, according to authorities.
The sow left Galante with injuries to her head, neck, face, and arms, Chief Hays explained. She was taken by Butler Ambulance Service to Butler Memorial Hospital.
Before she left her property, the "bear continued with her aggression," Hays said. But he noted that the sow and yearlings had retreated up a tree. Galante "did identify the sow as the bear that attacked her," Pennsylvania Game Commission Communications Director Travis Lau said. Members of the PGC were able to euthanize the sow and expedite the rabies testing.
Since the tests came back negative the 60 to 80-pound yearlings were released back into the wild as they did not require euthanization, Lau and Hays explained.
He also mentioned that they "would be setting off on their own in the coming weeks anyway."
The PGC are "scheduled to conduct a full interview with [Galante] later today," Lau told us in an email on Wednesday, March 6.
No additional information was available.
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