Bear breaks into Sierra Madre home
A Sierra Madre resident was startled when a bear walked into his kitchen while he was washing dishes. (Photo by Jason Wightman)
Sierra Madre, California – A Sierra Madre man got a big surprise on Tuesday when a black bear walked into his kitchen through his open back door — and he caught the whole thing on video.
Jason Wightman shared the video on Facebook, saying he was washing dishes around 5:30pm on Tuesday when he suddenly noticed the bear peeking its head out.
“That's a good boy, you're coming into my house,” Wightman can be heard saying to the bear as it sniffed around. The bear was halfway inside the house, sniffing, drooling and licking its lips as it looked around.
Wightman then yelled at the bear to get out of his house. Although it's not clearly visible on camera, Wightman sprayed the bear with water, which seemed to convince the bear. Wightman then followed the bear into his backyard, where he got an even bigger surprise: another bear.
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The pair retreated with their backs to the fence at the end of the garden. Wightman tried to open the gate to let them through, hoping they would not try to scale the fence and break it down, but they would not listen. Eventually they scaled the fence.
Wightman handled the encounter well, according to the National Park Service, which recommends speaking calmly and remaining cool so “the bear knows you are a human and not prey,” but also says not to make loud noises or yell, which the bear may mistake for prey sounds.
Eventually, one of the bears ran out of the yard and the other ended up in a neighbor's yard. “I'm going to call her right now,” Wightman said.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that there are between 25,000 and 35,000 black bears in California.
