Woman mauled by mother bear outside of her home in Pennsylvania

A Pennsylvania woman was hospitalized after being mauled by a mother bear with her cubs this week and is recounting the brazen animal attack from her hospital bed.

"She had me down and she was on top of me. I thought I was going to die," Lee Ann Galante, 55, tearfully told Pittsburgh affiliate WTAE, adding, "I never thought this would happen to me."

The attack took place on Bellefield Drive in Butler Township on Tuesday around 8:30 p.m., local time, while Galante was letting her dog outside to the rear of her residence, according to a police report from the incident.

Galante suffered injuries to her arm, face, neck and head in the attack and was transported to Butler Memorial Hospital, according to police.

Pennsylvania Game Commission authorities found the mother bear and three cubs in a tree in the immediate area, police reported, noting, "the female bear continued with her aggression."

Game Commission authorities euthanized the mother bear and the cubs were tranquilized and were to be released to an unknown area, according to police.

Recounting the terrifying event to WTAE, Galante said she was outside on her home's deck with her dog -- a small, black Pomeranian -- when she looked up and saw an outline of the "huge" bear cubs in the tree.

The mother bear started to go after Galante's dog before she started screaming at the animal, who then approached her, "I was not gonna let her eat my dog," Galante said.

The mother bear then attacked Galante on the deck of her home, saying, "She pushed me down and my face went smack into our cement pad that we have off the step."

"Then she got me by the back of my head and she was pulling so hard on it -- I thought I was gonna get scalped," Galante said. "She pulled so hard that it did pull the skin from the back of my ear and I have stitches back there."

Galante, whose hair is tinted red with blood from the injuries to her scalp, said, "I was bleeding like crazy. I have so many staples in the back of my head."

Butler Township Police Chief John Hays told WTAE this is the first incident he has seen of this kind.

"I've been here over 40 years and it's never happened. We've never had anything like this," he said.