WATCH | Teen fights off a bear attacking her dogs ... and wins

A brave 17-year-old has been hailed as a hero for fighting off a bear to protect her family’s dogs.

The incident happened in San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles, and was captured in a viral video that was first shared by the girl’s mother on Instagram.

The video shows a brown bear walking on a brick wall with two cubs when several dogs start barking at the bear. The bear appears to defend her cubs before the teen runs to it and fends it off using her hands. 

She can be seen quickly picking up one of the dogs and signals the others to move inside.

“Superhuman strength to save her dogs. My child did not even think. She just ran to save them,” the mother wrote when she posted the video. 

Hailey Morinico told NBC News the bear had attacked her youngest dog.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a bear, and it is taking my dog.' It is lifting her up off the ground. The dog the bear grabbed, she’s the baby. I have to protect the baby,” the teen told the station.

Rebecca Barboza, a wildlife biologist with the California department of fish and wildlife, told the station her observation from the video is that the dogs provoked the bear and it was protecting its cubs. 

The teen told Fox News bears are not a rare sight for her as she lives in the mountains.