A woman in Monrovia woke up to the startling sight of an enormous black bear in her kitchen.
Zoe Chadman initially tried to scare away the intruder by making loud noises, but it was her fearless 17-year-old dog, Doodle, who jumped into action and ultimately chased the bear out of the house.
Surveillance footage shows the bear approaching the property, likely in search of food, before breaking in through an entryway.
Seeing bears in the area is nothing new for residents of Monrovia.
KC, a neighbor, noted that while bears often come for the fallen avocados on the street, it’s unusual for them to actually enter people’s yards. However, in this case, a mother bear and her cub were spotted lingering on the property for about ten minutes.
“I’m just sad for this mama bear without her cub because they’ve been trapped in our backyard for 10 minutes,” KC said. “My husband ran out to open up the back gate while mama bear was in the front, so it had a way out.”
The bears eventually found their way out and left the area. Despite their cuddly appearance, residents are reminded that these animals are still wild and can be unpredictable and potentially dangerous.
“This mama bear is pretty brazen. She’s double-tagged, which means she’s been mischievous before,” KC added.
Encounters like these are becoming more frequent in neighborhoods along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
“My wife was taking a shower and it came out of the shower and it was standing there,” said Sam Padilla, another Monrovia resident who recalled a close encounter of his own. He resorted to banging pots and pans to scare the bear off.
“It lunged at me from the refrigerator to the living room, which is about five feet. That thing was on me in seconds,” he said.
While unsettling, Sam believes run-ins with wildlife are part of the deal when living in bear territory.
“I understand there’s like 30,000 bears in California, so what are they going to do? Take three or four away? They’re just going to keep coming back. If you don’t like it, move out,” he said.
The post Hero dog chases massive black bear out of Monrovia home appeared first on KTLA.