Residents of Sierra Madre, California, had a surprise visitor this week.
On Tuesday, June 4th, Jason Wightman was shocked to see a 300-pound bear walk into his kitchen while he was washing dishes at around 5:30pm local time.
In a video shared on Facebook, Wightman asked the bear: “Hello, are you a good boy?”, adding: “You're in my house! Get out of my house, Bear!”
“I'm warning you,” Wightman said, before adding, as he spotted the animal licking his lips, “Bear, bear, bear, be gentle!”
“Shall I give you some water?” Wightman asked the bear.
Wightman ended up spraying the bear with water before going outside and chasing it, only to discover there were in fact two bears. “Is it just you two? I can see you guys over there,” Wightman said.
“Are you OK? What are you doing? I'm not going to hurt you, I just want you to go ahead,” Wightman told the animals, adding: “Go ahead, I'm not giving you anything.”
Wightman opened the door for the bears before they could climb over the fence.
“I don't even remember what I was saying,” Wightman told KCAL News about the incident. “It happened so fast. There was a bear in my kitchen.”
“They're cute animals, but they don't have cute personalities,” Wightman told the outlet. “Their personalities can change in an instant.”
Sierra Madre Vice Mayor Laura Aguilar told KCAL News that more than 370 bear sightings were recorded in the area in 2023, with more than 70 of them breaking into people's homes.
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Aguilar also said there have been 100 bear sightings and three home break-ins in the area so far this year. The city is now distributing bear-proof trash cans and feeding wild animals is banned, according to the outlet.
“Usually they're still playing so you can see them rolling around and wrestling,” city resident Bruce Anderson told KABC about the two bears.
“For example, I've seen them on outdoor furniture. They'll climb on it, play on it, and then fall off. It's cute,” Anderson added.
