Monrovia family barely avoids unwanted Thanksgiving guest 

Some residents of SoCal’s foothill communities love the bears that roam the area, but not enough to allow them in their house. 

But for one Monrovia family, a four-legged guest nearly crashed their Thanksgiving Day gathering. Even better, the whole incident was caught on camera.

Video shows the bear casually strolling around the home’s backyard on Thursday before strolling all the way up to the home’s sliding glass doors, almost as if it was invited in for Thanksgiving dinner.

A man quickly shut the door before the bear could join in on the feast, and it then trudged away upon realizing that it was not on the guest list. 

According to the man who recorded the encounter, the bear probably smelled the turkey in the smoker in the backyard. 

One of the home’s residents, identified only as Denise, agrees that their lovable but unwanted guest may have been enticed by the plethora of delicious smells. 

“I’m in the kitchen slicing and dicing and we had the stuffing cooking, so we had lots of good smells,” Denise told KTLA 5’s Jennifer McGraw. “We had the smoker on outside, and we get bears a lot and we’re used to them, but that was probably the closest we’ve had a bear with the open screen door.” 

Bear sightings are common in foothill communities; in September, a mama bear and her cubs were seen enjoying a dip in someone’s pool in Tujunga. 

Also in September, a “well-traveled” female bear led authorities on a chase through San Bernardino just days after she was released into the wild. That bear was eventually struck and killed by a motorist while she was crossing the 210 Freeway. 

Bears have even been caught on camera ringing doorbells at Southern California homes, showing that some are bold enough to walk right up to your front door. 

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, between 30,000 and 40,000 bears live across the Golden State. 

While a bear sighting alone is not a cause for concern, CDFW said, residents who have had a bear damage their home or property are asked to contact their local Department of Fish and Wildlife Regional Office.

The two regional offices in SoCal are the South Coast Region office, which can be reached by calling 858-467-4201, or the Inland Desert Region office, which can be reached by calling 909-484-0167.

If you encounter a bear in your yard, wildlife officials recommend slowly backing away from it, allowing it plenty of room to pass or withdraw and beginning to make loud noises once you are a safe distance away.