WATCH: Dog walker has extremely close encounter with black bear
Residents of Sierra Madre are very familiar with black bears freely roaming their neighborhoods.
Case in point: footage from Tuesday evening that shows a very close encounter – one that was fortunately uneventful.
Andrew Cooper and Jake Smith recorded video of a woman casually walking her dog in the area of 170 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. when she was startled by a large bear standing in the driveway next to a retaining wall.
Her dog briefly lunged at the bear, but the woman simply yanked on the leash and continued walking, the video shows. The bear, meanwhile, seemed totally unphased as it first looked both ways for cars and then crossed the street.
A woman walking a dog is startled by a black bear in Sierra Madre, California. June 18, 2024. (Andrew Cooper/and Jake Smith) A woman walking a dog is startled by a black bear in Sierra Madre, California. June 18, 2024. (Andrew Cooper/and Jake Smith) A woman walking a dog is startled by a black bear in Sierra Madre, California. June 18, 2024. (Andrew Cooper/and Jake Smith)
In the foothills of Los Angeles County’s San Gabriel Valley, where Sierra Madre is located, bears are viewed as mischievous but largely harmless neighbors who rummage through trash, sometimes venture into homes in search of food, and cool off in backyard pools.
Attacks on humans are extremely rare.
If you have a close encounter with a bear, experts say you should back away slowly, try to appear as large as possible and make noise. Do not run or “play dead.”
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