A mother bear attacked a 55-year-old woman Tuesday night in Butler Township. Once the mother was euthanized, her three cubs were tranquilized as they hid in a tree. Photo courtesy of WTAE

A 55-year-old woman was taken to the hospital Tuesday night, March 5, after being attacked by a bear outside her Butler Township home on Bellefield Drive, according to police.

Lee Ann Galante suffered injuries to her head, neck, arms and face following the altercation, which involved a mother bear, three bear cubs and the woman’s dog, police said in a Wednesday news release.

Galante was initially taken to Butler Memorial Hospital by ambulance Tuesday, but has since been moved to Allegheny General Hospital for extensive injuries, according to Butler Township police chief John Hays.

A Butler County dispatcher said Tuesday night that Galante bled profusely before emergency responders arrived and controlled her bleeding.

Hays said his officers received the call around 8:30 p.m. about the attack, which involved a mother bear and three bear cubs.

“Apparently, it must have been some type of interaction with the bears and her dog,” he said. “Our officer was out by the North Main Street Church of God, so he got there relatively quick.”

Police said Galante was letting her dog out in her backyard when she was attacked. She was able to escape to her house for safety, and the dog was unharmed.

Michael Vero, a neighbor of Galante’s, said he could hear her screams.

“I didn’t know what happened,” he said. “That was nerve-wracking to hear her screaming.”

The bears had run up a tree at the rear of Galante’s property after the incident, Hays said, and the mother bear was becoming aggressive. The mother bear was euthanized around 9 p.m. Other neighbors reported hearing a loud noise around that time.

Vero said he watched from his back window as the mother bear dropped from the tree. Officers had warned neighbors of the situation and urged them to stay inside.

Pennsylvania game wardens used spotlights to keep an eye on the bear cubs in the tree. Vero said he watched all three cubs be tranquilized and rounded up.

According to Hays, the Game Commission is investigating the possibility that the mother and cubs had rabies.

Travis Lau, communications director with the commission, said in an email Wednesday morning that they are scheduled to speak with Galante about the incident.

“We have expedited the rabies testing to be performed on the (mother), and if she tests negative for rabies, we will release the yearlings back into the wild,” he wrote.

He said the bear cubs are 60 to 80 pounds and would have been departing from their mother in the coming weeks.

Vero said he believed bears had been in the neighborhood a few weeks ago as well, and he was nervous for his children’s safety.

“I was on edge then,” he said. “Now that they’re out of here, it makes me feel a little better,” he said.

Cindy Dimmick, who has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years, said bears are common in the area, and she noticed evidence of their presence hours before the attack.

She said around noon, she went into her yard to tend to some plants and prevent deer from eating them. On her way back to her house, she noticed a bear paw print in some mud.

“Never ever did I think it was fresh,” she said. “We’ve heard bear here … you can hear crunching, and you know it’s not a deer … It’s very scary, you just have to be aware, I guess. It’s so sad.”

According to the state game commissions website, 2,920 black bears were harvested in Pennsylvania in 2023. Butler County contributed 29 bears to that number. In 2022, 40 bears were harvested in the county.

According to Bearwise.org, which Lau said provides a plethora of bear safety tips, it is imperative that should anyone encounter a bear that they don’t approach it and don’t run away.

To get to safety, make loud noises in an attempt to scare the bear. The website also advised removing items from yards that would attract bear activity, such as bird feeders, pet feeders, or garbage.

Officers remained on scene until 11 p.m. Township police, Butler Township Fire District, Butler Ambulance Service and Butler City police responded to the scene, along with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.