Bear breaks into Sierra Madre home leaving huge mess behind

A Sierra Madre family was shocked to find the trail of destruction left behind by a bear that broke into their home over the weekend. 

Sara Alden captured the moments that the large bear sauntered away from their house early Sunday afternoon, shortly after ripping through their belongings after breaking in through their side window. 

"He's like, 'It's a bear.' and I'm like, 'In our house?'" Alden recalled when her husband told her that a bear was inside. "He's like, 'Yes, it's in our bedroom!'"

She shared video of the aftermath of the wild incident that happened on Sunday night. In the footage, the slightly ajar refrigerator door could be seen in the background of the chaos, with furniture and all kinds of belonging toppled and strewn across the floor. Amongst those was a large block of beeswax, which looked to have chunks taken out and claw marks indented into the surface. 

Alden has lived in the area for the better part of the last two decades, and says while she knows its all part of living there, the frequency of visits from the bears is cause for concern. 

"It was in the last five years that they've really become a nuisance," she said. "They're getting more brazen, they really are."

Others say that it's just something they have to deal with, like neighbors you'd find anywhere else. 

"They're my neighbors, I see them every day. I walk every morning and I walk every night and I don't have a problem with it at all," said Sierra Madre resident Amanda Garcia. 

She walks with a backpack filled to the brim with bells, hopeful that they'd do the trick and scare any overly-curious bears away from her. 

"It's just a way of life with these bears," she said. "You know, I signed up to live here."

Nearly everyone who lives in the area has had some sort of encounter, most of whom have had multiple run-ins. 

Gloria Nestlerode, a Sierra Madre resident since the 1960s has so many stories that she's lost count of how often she's seen one of the bears outside of her home. After a recent break in however, she said that something might need to change. 

"We have a concern now that we've been broke into, we do need some of those bears to be moved to another place," said Nestlerode. 

Her thoughts are echoed by Alden, who worries that something worse than a ransacking might taken place. 

"I'm just worried that somebody's gonna be injured or killed by one of these bears because we've become to comfortable with them," she said.