300-pound bear caught walking into Sierra Madre home
Utterly shocked to see a 300-pound bear walking into his kitchen Tuesday evening, Jason Wightman first did what many people would do when face-to-face with a wild animal: pull out his phone and talk to it.
"Hello, are you nice?" he said in the recording. "You're in my house. Get out of my house."
Wightman lives in Sierra Madre, a town nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and filled with bears looking to forage after hibernating for the winter.
"I don't even remember what I was saying," Wightman said. "It was happening so fast. There was a bear in my kitchen."
Last year, Sierra Madre recorded over 370 bear sightings, with 70 of the wild animals entering people's houses. Halfway through 2024, residents have reported over 100 bear sightings, with three ending up inside homes, according to Deputy City Manager Laura Aguilar. She believes that the number may have dropped because the city provided bear-resistant trash cans and implemented a ban on feeding wild animals.
However, City Hall is concerned that the progress made could be at risk. In 2021, the state legislature approved one-time funding to provide four human-wildlife conflict specialists to the area. The funding for three of the positions is set to run out.
"That would be just detrimental for Sierra Madre and all the neighborhoods in the neighboring cities," Aguilar said.
The specialists are responsible for taking reports and following up on wildlife encounters, as well as outreach and education. Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tim Daly said those duties will not disappear.
"There's still a lot of staff at Fish and Wildlife that will still deal with these situations and especially when there's an emergency concern or safety concern," he said. "we still have people doing much of this work."
The bear walked out of Wightman's kitchen and into the backyard, where a second bear was waiting. Both climbed over a wall and disappeared.
"They are cute animals, but they don't have a cute disposition," Wightman said. "Their disposition can change on a dime."
Just this week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to issue a unified call for state officials to develop a regional plan to address adequate staffing for public encounters with wildlife.
Fish and Wildlife encourages anyone who runs into bears and other wildlife to report it on their website.
