Hungry Bear Surprises California Homeowner with Kitchen Invasion

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If you live in bear country, you've heard the warnings again and again: don't leave your garbage out overnight, never leave groceries in your car unattended, put your supplies in smell-proof bear boxes when you go camping, etc. Essentially, don't ever leave detectable food outside of your home, because hungry bears will jump at the opportunity to steal it for themselves. Unfortunately, sometimes a person can follow all of these rules, and it still isn't enough!

While most bears would balk at the prospect of encountering another human, a few of them are unafraid to go very far in order to get what they want. How far? Well, in the case of this Sierra Madre incident, right into an unsuspecting homeowner's kitchen!

"Are you nice?" That was the first question Sierra Madre homeowner Jason Wightman had for the hungry black bear invading his home- a reasonable one, considering the circumstances. ABC 7 LA shared Wightman's video footage of his hair-raising home invasion . Wightman had evidently left his back porch door open, and the bear took the opportunity to step inside and peruse his kitchen, probably not expecting to encounter Wightman doing the dishes inside!

Related: Bear Breaks Into California Home and Makes Off With a Packet of Oreos

Wightman sounded incredibly nervous in his video, but he stood his ground. Standing feet away from the apex predator, Wightman raised his voice and ordered the bear out, and thankfully, the shy bear got the message. Once the juvenile black bear stepped back outside, Wightman released how lucky he actually was, because one of the bear's siblings was waiting outside in his yard, too. This easily could have become a family affair!

An Overabundance of Bears

Sierra Madre is a community in the northern part of Los Angeles County, located in the wild foothills of the San Gabriel Mountain range. Recently, locals in Sierra Madre and nearby Monrovia have been visited by bears coming down from the mountains for food and exploration. While the bears are undeniably cute, home invasions like the one Jason Wightman endured are a little too close for comfort!

Bear encounters have become so frequent in the Foothills neighborhoods that local officials have been forced to take action. According to NBC Los Angeles , nearly 100 bear sightings were reported in Sierra Madre alone over the past four weeks, and the LA County Board of Supervisors is now trying to get funding for Fish and Wildlife specialists to develop a management plan for keeping both local bears and humans safe. In the meantime, city officials are warning locals not to leave out food, use locking bear-resistant trash cans provided to city residents for free, and to shut all windows and outside doors. That last warning could have come in handy in Wightman's case!

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