Couple hides in bedroom after bear walks into their California home looking for food

Maddie Capron
·2 min read

When Barbara Rogers looked down the stairs of her California home, she saw a huge bear nose.

Her husband Jim had opened a door in the back of their Duarte house to let their cats in and a bear wandered in behind them, ABC 7 reported.

“My husband goes ‘There’s a bear in the house!’ and I looked down the stairs and I saw his big nose,” Rogers told ABC 7. “It was about 250 pounds … so it wasn’t very old.”

They tried to scare the bear off by banging pots and pans together, Rogers told NBC Los Angeles. When that didn’t work, they ran upstairs and hid in a bedroom.

“We ran into the bedroom and called 911,” Rogers told NBC Los Angeles. “They said to just stay barricaded inside.”

The bear left the home on its own, and no one was injured. However, the animal had made a mess of the couple’s kitchen, ABC 7 reported.

“He went through my whole pantry,” Rogers told ABC 7. “He ate all the cat food from the two cat dishes. He ate prunes.”

Rogers told NBC Los Angeles that there wasn’t much to clean up. The bear may have stepped on a computer in the house, but it appeared to still be working fine.

Bears have caused damage in other homes in California. In March, a mother bear and her three cubs peeled the siding off a Kings Beach home and trashed part of the basement. They also broke a gas line.

California wildlife officials have warned that if a bear breaks into your home, you shouldn’t confront it.

“Most bears will quickly look for an escape route,” the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said on its website. “Move away to a safe place. Do not block exit points. If the bear does not leave, get to a safe place and call 911.”

Wildlife officials in California also offered the following tips to deter bears:

  • Don’t leave food scraps in your yard

  • Have a bear-proof garbage can

  • Don’t put out the trash can until the morning it’s to be collected

  • Do not leave food in your vehicle

  • Do not spray bear spray near your property (It can actually attract bears once dried)

  • Do not feed wildlife near your home

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