In a unexpected twist, bears in a California town have learned to open doors and are now breaking into homes, causing chaos and challenging the local wildlife management efforts.
The Brazen Bears of Sierra Madre
In the Southern California town of Sierra Madre, residents have been noticing an unexpected development in recent years. Ever since Dani and Erik moved into their typical suburb in Sunland, CA. Nestled up against the Angeles National Forest, their furry four-legged neighbors from just a stone’s throw over the hill have been getting bolder by breaking out of the woods and waltzing into cars, kitchens, and even living rooms like it’s theirs!
That is news to Sierra Madre City Attorney Aleks Giragosian. Even worse, the bears have learned how to open doors in the last two years. Giragosian seems to be as surprised as Wegbourne is when he states,” I’m amazed they found out. I don’t know what they’re telling each other, but they starting to open car doors too.
This is very different from past behavior when bears showed up now and then, but hardly ever broke into homes. Last year, there were about 100 bear sightings in Sierra Madre but no bears went inside homes. But those upticks were dwarfed by the 2021 numbers: 380 sightings and 50 break-ins, a troubling change in bear behavior.
Humans Encroaching on Bear Territory
Bears are a common sight in cities and not just Sierra Madre. The bears, Erinn Wilson by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Erinn Wilson), are also found within the wildland that humans have had to use more recently.
In these communities, Wilson said, there are three general kinds of bears the discs were aimed at: “no harm, no foul” bears who wander through neighborhoods and can be frightened off; habituated bears that get very used to human activities and food sources; and depredation bears that are almost fearless and potentially a danger to public safety.
All these different kinds of bears live in the Sierra Madre, but residents have been saying one bear in particular has been a huge nuisance to locals. The bear took up residence in this unoccupied house at 6 Alta Vista Drive to the dismay of neighbors. City officials have endeavored to deal with the problem, but stuck without legal options, they had to think outside the box to evict a squatter in such an off-putting environment.
Conclusion
The Sierra Madre bear invasion illustrates the difficult balance between humans and more common animal residents like black bears, as human development encroaches on more natural settings and increases the potential for conflicts. Though the residents are split between their affection for wildlife side by side their concerns for safety, the teenagers agree that there has to be a way to deal with this mounting issue in a more proportioned manner. While the bears continue to adjust and prove more bold, how this may all play out is unknown—but likely will lead to a solution or positive situation in terms of living together with our furry locals.
