Homeowner relives horror attack by protective mama black bear who knocked her to the ground and started biting her head in her own back yard: 'I thought she was going to scalp me'

Terrified home owner has described her horror after she was attacked by a protective mother bear who started biting her head as she walked her dog in her back yard.

Lee Ann Galante thought the black bear was going to 'scalp' her during the vicious mauling at her home in Butler Townshipi n Western Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. 

The 55-year-old was letting her Pomeranian called Smokie outside for a walk when she heard a commotion and knew that the dog was in danger.

Galante then saw the silhouette of three bear cubs in a neighbor's tree before their angry mother appeared on the scene.

'I see this big bear just jump over the fence, and there's Smokie. So I start screaming, "Smokie, Smokie,''' she told local TV news station WPXI from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

'Then she got me by the back of the head and she was pulling so hard on it I thought I was going to get scalped.' 

Lee Ann Galante thought the black bear was going to 'scalp' her during the vicious mauling at her home in Butler Township on Tuesday night. Pictured: Galante in hospital recalling the attack

The 55-year-old was letting her dog Smokie outside for a walk. She heard a commotion and knew that the Pomeranian was in danger

During a emotional interview from her hospital bed where she is covered it cuts and bruises Galante described how the bear had charged at her and knocked her to the ground. 

She told CBS News: 'She came up behind me and she pushed me down, and my face went smack right into our cement. She was very very powerful and very very angry'

Galante said the bear kept switching her focus from her to her eight-pound Pomeranian and noted that her arm was bitten during the attack. 

She told how she managed to crawl back to her home from the back deck and phone 911. Galante was hospitalized and received dozens of surgical staples to the back of her head.

'She has a fair amount of puncture wounds on the back of her neck, on her arm itself and pretty significant tears and lacerations across her scalp. And she also has several broken bones of her nose and her face,' said AHN trauma surgeon Dr. Jennifer Chen. 

Galante's back garden. The 55-year-old saw the silhouette of three bear cubs in a neighbor's tree before their angry mother appeared on the scene

One of the bears in a tree after the attack. The mother bear continued to be aggressive and was euthanized by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The cubs were tranquilized and they are expected to be released in an unknown location

The mother bear and her three cubs were located in a tree in the immediate area after the attack. 

The mother bear continued to be aggressive and was euthanized by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The cubs were tranquilized and they are expected to be released in an unknown location.

The Game Commission said the bear was likely being protective of her cubs and hungry. 

One of Galante's neighbours, Michael Vero, said it 'was nerve-wracking to hear her screaming' during the attack, adding that bears had been in the area for a few weeks and he had been concerned for the safety of his children.

'I was on edge then; now that they're out of here, it makes me feel a little better,' he said. 

In May last year, a black bear attacked two young children who were playing in the driveway outside of their house in Wright Township, Pennsylvania.

The children, aged 5 and 14 months, were treated for 'bites and/or scratches' and released from Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. 

Pennsylvania's black bear population has increased from around 4,000 in the 1970s to around 18,000, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Black bears can weigh up to 600 pounds and they are rarely aggressive towards people.