WEST MILFORD, N.J. -- An intrepid New Jersey feline is being hailed as a hero after chasing a black bear out of his neighbor's yard and right up a tree.

The Star-Ledger reports that Suzanne Giovanetti was reading at the kitchen table when her husband Dean cried out from the TV room at the back of the house that a black bear had just scurried up a tree on the edge of the couple’s backyard.

The Giovanetti's live in Shady Lake, a private community at the base of West Milford, and Suzanne Giovanetti says she sees one or two bears a year.

She quickly grabbed her camera and snapped these pictures from the safe vantage point of a second-floor balcony.

Then she noticed Jack camped out at the base of the tree.

"I thought, ‘Aww, look at the little kitty looking at the bear,’" Giovanetti said. But as Giovanetti watched on, she saw the bear cast frequent, worried glances down at the cat, a 10-year-old orange-and-white tabby named Jack.

 
Jack's owner, Donna Dickey, tells The Star-Ledger of Newark Jack considers the area his turf and doesn't want anyone in his yard.

Image: Another black bear in a tree last year in New Jersey. (CBS File photo)