A California man was stunned when a bear walked into his kitchen while he was washing dishes.
Sierra Madre resident Jason Wightman didn't know how to react when the 300-pound animal walked through his open door into his home at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
He posted an intense five-minute video of the exchange on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 2,000 times.
“Was washing dishes and happened to look at this,” he wrote, along with a shocked face emoji.
The video shows the animal cautiously peeking its head out from around the corner to see the homeowner before approaching.
“Hello, is this a good guy?” Jason asked nervously. “You're in my house, get out of my house.”
He continued, “I'm warning you Bear, get out of my house. Bear, Bear, be a good boy. You're licking your lips.”
After trying unsuccessfully to chase the bear away from his house, he asked the bear, “Shall I give you some water?”
When the bear tried to approach again, Wightman sprayed it, causing it to back away and run outside.
Following it, he realized there were actually two birds in his garden.
“Okay, who else is there? Just you two? I can see you guys over there,” he said, filming them.
“We don't mean to harm you, we just want you to keep going, keep going the way you came, we don't have anything in store for you,” he added, addressing the animals.
Apparently frustrated, one of the bears began rushing towards the California man, who quickly backed away and ran back to his home.
The bears apparently refused to leave, even after the man opened the door for them and continued making noise to scare them away, but they eventually climbed over the fence and left the property.
Speaking to CBS News about the incident, Wightman said, “I don't even remember what I was saying. It all happened so quickly. There was a bear in my kitchen.”
According to the media, more than 370 bear sightings were recorded in the Sierra Madre last year alone, with 70 of them invading people's homes.
Vice Mayor Laura Aguilar said more than 100 have already been spotted, including three inside homes, with the year now half over.
The video was released shortly after a 71-year-old California woman was found mysteriously dead in her home and was confirmed to have been mauled by a black bear, marking the first fatal attack of its kind in history.
Patrice Miller was found dead in her home in November last year in Downieville, a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about two hours northeast of the state capital, Sacramento.
Sierra County sheriff's deputies were checking on a resident who had been missing for several days when they discovered a broken door and bear droppings on the front porch.
Officers forced their way into the home and found her body inside, which had been ransacked and showed signs of possible bear intrusion.
“It appears the bear had been there possibly for a few days and had been feeding on the remains,” Sheriff Mike Fisher told KCRA.
It was initially thought that Miller had died before the bear arrived and that the bear may have been attracted by his scent.
Meanwhile, concerned residents have reported multiple bears returning to their homes, and Fisher said state trapping permits have been issued and bears have been captured on the property and euthanized.
An autopsy determined Miller died “as a result of being mauled by a bear or from scratches or bites around the neck area.”
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed this was the first recorded case of a black bear fatally attacking a human in the state.
