Police worked to get what they believed was a bear out of a Sierra Madre home Wednesday morning.
Chelsea Mapanda told KNX News’ Jon Baird that she returned home around 1:30 a.m. when she noticed something strange.
“I ended up walking into my courtyard and I glanced over to the left where I normally enter the house and the door was wide open, and I could see from the window that the refrigerator was open too,” she said.
She added that her neighbor had warned her about a “juvenile bear” that had been spotted in the area.
“So I called the police and upon further investigation, they were growled at and they confirmed that the bear was in the house,” she said.
Sierra Madre Police responded as did the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Police urged others to avoid the area of S. Hermosa Ave and Ramona.
Meanwhile, neither the police nor Mapanda saw the bear.
“I didn't see the bear and I want to see the bear because if you've caused this much of a hiccup, you better come out fluffy and beautiful and full of honey and mangoes because I know [it] tore it up in my kitchen,” Mapanda said.
She added that she has no problem with bears and hoped this would be solved humanely.
“No matter how much of an inconvenience this may be, we are imposing on their natural habitat and they are just foraging for food and resources,” she said. “So, as much as this is a frustrating situation, I am not about to be frustrated with nature and nature doing what nature does.”
Authorities did find evidence that it trampled some plants and left some paw prints on the way out the back. The investigation ended around 7:50 a.m.
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