A black bear that has entered multiple homes and participated in 31 negative activities in cities such as La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena and Altadena was euthanized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on June 14 in LCF.
The bear, which had a green tag hanging from its right ear exhibiting the number 162, was known to frequent LCF and might have grown up in the city, according to wildlife offiicals.
The bear had gotten comfortable with damaging property, rummaging through garbage cans and even entering homes. It was registered as the culprit for breaking into eight homes and had entered three houses the day it was captured, the CDFW said.
One incident in LCF on June 7 shook the city, as bear 162 lumbered into a home through a sliding back door, where a family of three, including a 5-year-old child, was present at the time.
The family called the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station and barricaded themselves in a bedroom, while the bear rummaged through the home and ate food in the kitchen, including a jar of honey. Authorities waited until the bear exited the home and took note of the situation.
The next day, the bear came back in the early morning and tried to open the sliding door again but was stopped when the family used a stick to hold it for extra protection.
The family had seen the bear in its backyard before but didn’t think much of it, like most local residents, until it so easily broke in.
SHERIFF’S INVOLVEMENT, REPORTS
From May 1 to June 15 the station received 12 calls related to bear incidents among residents in the city of LCF.
The most recent incident was on June 14, when deputies were patrolling the area on Burning Tree Drive and a man screamed and said that a bear was in his house.
Sgt. John Gilbert told the Outlook Valley Sun that the resident had all his doors and windows unlocked or open and that the bear walked right into the house, toward the kitchen.
CDFW was in the area setting up bear traps and came to assist the deputies, since they had received multiple calls that day about the same bear. CDFW was able to find the bear inside and tranquilize it.
Gilbert said that the station and CDFW work together on wildlife issues and determine what the best solution is for the situation at hand.
He said that the station always prioritizes public safety and takes action when necessary — for instance, if a bear ventures near a school or park with children present or if a bear is on a main road, where it could be struck by a vehicle.
But Gilbert said that when deputies encounter a bear or receive a call, they do not always call CDFW; instead, it depends on the bear’s behavior.
CDFW will ask the sheriff’s station if the bear is threatening anyone and if the answer is no, then there is not much they can do. Gilbert said that even if the station does call for CDFW’s assistance, response times can vary depending on where the nearest officer is.
“It’s anywhere between a half hour to an hour, but it’s highly dependent upon what their availability is, if they’re on another call and where the closest [CDFW] officer is,” he said.
SUGAR BEAR INCIDENTS BEFORE JUNE 14
An LCF resident since 1969, Ellie Wildermuth had her most recent experience with bear 162 on June 5 at her house on Ivafern Lane.
A repeat visitor to her house, the tagged bear was this time under her house, pulling insulation out.
“When I opened the side door, we were face to face, 3 feet apart,” she said. “After much screaming through a crack in the door, she slowly lumbered away.”
After looking for her phone, Wildermuth looked out the back door again and saw the bear devouring sugar water from a blown glass hummingbird feeder that she had pulled from a pillar, and that is when she earned the name “Sugar.”
Last year in July, Wildermuth said that Sugar would spend two and a half hours under her house.
“She was able to pick up all four wooden covers for crawl space and destroy the metal grates under them,” she said. “I am still dealing with repercussions [and] possibly a leak under the house.”
Wildermuth thought her backyard was secured from children wandering into the pool but didn’t think a bear would roam through her backyard. Sugar broke down two vinyl gates and destroyed insulation under her house, possibly trying to create a shelter. Wildermuth said that she has spent thousands of dollars in making repairs.
Wildermuth described Sugar as “dexterous” and has managed to open three neighbors’ refrigerators, scale fences and gates, and squeeze into small openings.
“She does not react to me,” she said. “I believe she recognizes me and knows I have not harmed her.”
Sugar repeatedly returns, “terrorizing the neighborhood,” Wildermuth said. She added that her family is afraid to leave any doors or windows unlocked.
Wildermuth said that she spoke with a CDFW representative the week of June 10 about Sugar, and she learned that the bear was tagged more than three years ago and is believed to have grown up in LCF.
She was also told that there are only three investigators handling five counties and more funding is needed for them to adequately meet the need. Additionally, Wildermuth recalled the representative saying the CDFW could not relocate Sugar because she wouldn’t have been able to survive.
Some preventive measures that Wildermuth has used for years are freezing her garbage and placing ammonia-soaked sponges near openings, but they need to be replaced often.
She also has an air horn ready and pots to start banging when a bear gets too close.
She said that bear-proof trash cans are available through each respective trash hauler but can cost up to $300.
Republic Services has bear-proof trash cans in various sizes, all for a one-time charge of $100. Meanwhile, Athens Services has trash cans available that cost either $280.72 or $348.10, depending on the size desired. NASA Services also has trash cans costing $350 and $400, depending on the size. If interested, residents should contact their trash provider for more details.
An LCF resident for almost 40 years, Darlene Larian said she has had her fair share of bears visiting her yard and garage, damaging a wooden fence that has been replaced twice now. She also lives on Ivafern Lane.
Larian said the whole situation is “frustrating” and that she has tried a multitude of things, such as sending a report to CDFW and the LCF City Council.
The first time she saw a bear was only in the last few years, and before she would never think to look for a bear when she heard a sound from the nearby hillside.
“This is not a good situation,” she said. “We are not against wildlife; we have everything here and we are OK with that.”
Before her first bear encounter, “If I heard something on my hillside, I didn’t think twice about it, because I figured it’s a deer or a raccoon, not anything that’s going to bother me,” she added. “And now when I go outside, and I hear something on the hillside, I go inside, because I don’t know what it is.”
Although the tagged bear 162 did not appear to be aggressive, “no one can say what it would do. God forbid a child comes between this bear and something it wants.”
The second time the bear was in her garage, about three weeks ago, it opened her refrigerator — mostly filled with beverages and half an onion — and was not interested in most of it, throwing the onion to the ground. But what did interest the bear was a big bag of dog food, which it ripped apart and ate, until it heard a dog barking.
Larian’s daughter’s dog was inside the house barking at the bear from a window that looks into the garage, and “the bear lumbered off and went in the direction of my neighbor’s house,” where it has gone into their trash multiple times.
Besides freezing her trash, like Wildermuth, Larian also tries to keep her garage door closed, and her home locked. When she found out about the bear entering a home on Flanders Road, she found it very problematic for the community.
“Once a bear starts entering homes, at what point do we cross the threshold with this?”
Larian said situations like this make someone feel uncomfortable in their own space and neighborhood.
“It makes you [feel] like you don’t really want to go for a walk by yourself, and I never felt that way in this neighborhood before,” she said.
Cindy Lupica, an LCF resident since 1965 who lives on Flanders Road, first encountered a bear about three years ago when it started to roam through her yard. In early June of this year, a bear tore away the mesh from the custom-made crawl space screen under their home but was able to get only so far.
“Growing up in the city we saw the occasional coyote but never a bear,” she said. “Something has changed such that they now feel comfortable in our midst.”
Lupica noted that she and her husband don’t take many preventive measures, like having bear-proof or locked trash cans, since a bear has not rummaged through their trash yet.
After hearing about a bear entering a house on her street, she said that “the bear has now crossed the threshold where it is no longer ‘cute’ and tolerable to a situation where lives are potentially in danger. Our neighbors were and are traumatized.”
TIPS, PROGRESS IN BEAR INCIDENTS
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who usually defers to CDFW when it comes to bear or wildlife issues, submitted a motion on June 4 to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors asking the state to develop a regional approach to human-wildlife encounters that will ensure the public safety of those living in Sierra Madre and its adjacent communities.
It also proposes to continue to provide and augment expertise provided by CDFW staff to protect residents in Sierra Madre and numerous other communities in Los Angeles County, “that experience both the beauty and the threat of our wildlife neighbors.”
This motion comes after Barger saw an increase of human-wildlife conflicts, specifically black bears, in the city of Sierra Madre and a few troubling reports of attacks, bites, injuries and property damage.
Sierra Madre and its residents are advocating for a more regional response, as current CDFW polices regarding bear management tend to be statewide and not tailored to the unique conditions within the San Gabriel communities, reads the motion.
“Additionally, there are only a few CDFW wildlife specialists who must cover hundreds of miles of territory,” reads the motion.
The motion also calls on the state to provide education about wildlife behavior and the protection of the bears and other wildlife that visit local communities.
Stephanie English, the Santa Clarita Valley senior deputy for the supervisor, told the Outlook Valley Sun that Barger’s motion should make things easier for local communities, including LCF. But she said that it’s also about the city and its residents taking a holistic approach to mitigation issues; for example, if only a few residents secure their trash cans, it’s ineffective.
“The supervisor shares the concern of her cities [and the regular] occurrences of bears coming down from the hills, and [at the same time] we want to protect the wildlife too,” she said.
The motion is in the hands of CDFW Director Charlton Bonham after getting five signatures from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
“The goal is to encourage the state to maintain or add to the funding to maintain the human-wildlife conflict specialists to continue the education,” English said. CDFW human-wildlife conflict specialist Mackenzie Rich gave the Outlook Valley Sun some facts and tips on black bears in the community since sightings in the area are more frequent than they used to be.
She said the simplest reason for their presence is the availability of food, water and shelter.
“If they’re finding food, they’ll likely continue coming to that neighborhood, or community,” she added.
Most interactions do not go beyond sightings and low-level conflict behavior, such as knocking over trash cans or accessing garage fridges. “Securing these attractants from bears can go a long way to preventing a lot of conflict and reducing overall bear activity in a community,” she said.
Rich said that two bears have commonly frequented the LCF area, bear 162 and another bear that is not often reported.
“A tagged bear just means that we have had that bear in hand at some point,” she said. “It does not mean the bear is a ‘bad’ bear, or even necessarily a conflict bear. Tag number/color mean nothing. If there is only one ear tag on the animal, males almost always have the tag in the left ear and females almost always have the tag in the right ear.”
To work toward preventing a bear from coming into a home, Rich said that residents should have doors and windows locked and secured when not in a room. But, if a bear does enter the home, it is recommended that residents leave doors and windows open and allow the animal to exit. Calling 911 is also a good practice.
Bears have become part of the community and are active along the urban-wildland interface in communities such as LCF. Bears become attracted to trash, outdoor fridges and fruit trees, as all these items offer an easy source of food.
“Removing or restricting access to attractants is one of the best ways to reduce bear activity in an area,” Rich said, adding tips such as keeping trash in garages or bear-resistant bins, picking ripe or fallen fruit and not storing food in outdoor refrigerators, unless they are secured in a garage, to name a few methods.
Hazing can also be a way to reduce bear activity, but not if it is an adult female black bear with cubs.
“If both you and the bear have a clear escape route, and there is sufficient distance between you and the bear, you can use deterrents such as air horns, banging pots and pans, yelling/screaming, snapping an umbrella open/closed, making loud noise, etc.,” she said.
Bears, just like people and other animals, can get used to the stimuli. Rich suggests trying new methods and combining them with others.
“Trying things like snapping umbrellas open/closed, snapping a trash bag, using different noise makers — like personal alarms or handmade shaker jars — all of these things are great to try,” she said.
Bears are generally nonconfrontational and often choose to flee up trees or leave an area instead of engaging in confrontation or sharing a space with people, Rich said.
“So, it is still important to respect them as wild animals and give them plenty of space,” she said. “Do not approach to take photos or get a better look and never feed bears, intentionally or unintentionally, as this can lead to habituation, food conditioning [and] increased levels of conflict.”
When encountering a bear, Rich suggests to avoid cornering the animal and instead giving it the space and time to clear the area.
“If you are walking down the street and see a bear coming towards you or active in a nearby yard, consider crossing the street or choosing a different route. If you do encounter a bear, back away slowly and keep facing the animal,” Rich said. “Never turn your back and run from the bear.”
Speaking to the bear in a low voice and keeping your hands at your sides signals that you see it and are not trying to sneak up on it.
“If the bear continues towards you or approaches you, this is when you get big and loud,” Rich said. “Scream, yell, wave your arms and jump up and down. In the extremely unlikely scenario that a bear makes physical contact, fight back, do not lay down and play dead.”
Relocation is not an effective solution to conflict with bears, though many residents frequently think it is.
“Bears are known to come back, even to the same exact communities that they were originally captured in,” Rich said. “Examples from Tennessee and New Hampshire show that bears can travel thousands of miles to get back to the same areas that they were relocated from. Even if the animals do not end up in the same communities, they are likely to find themselves back in communities along the urban-wildland interface.”
Relocating or translocating bears also runs the risk of spreading disease and of a bear being hit by a car while attempting to travel back. Rich suggests that if a bear is behaving abnormally or aggressively “to contact your local law enforcement agency.”
To learn more about the CDFW Black bear policy in California, visit wildlife.ca.gov/ and search “Black Bear Policy in California.” To report a wildlife incident, visit apps.wildlife.ca.gov/wir.
First published in the June 27 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
