Every year, as summer ends and fall begins, California’s bears get hungry. Black bears have long lived in the state, searching for acorns, ants, and pine nuts in large amounts to build up calories before hibernation. But more and more, alongside every berry and root, there is a bigger temptation: our trash and the leftovers of human life.
This situation is unfolding in a perhaps surprising place: Los Angeles. As communities on the edges of the city grow, bears are coming into contact with people, drawn to residents’ pools, chicken coops, fruit trees, and trash cans.
“Black bears are incredibly adaptable, versatile omnivores,” said Wilson Sherman, a PhD student at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies human-wildlife interaction. “They can eat everything we can eat.”
Videos show bear cubs with their snouts bubbling in the water, climbing – and falling from – trees. Photograph: Poolbearlife via Instagram
Human-bear interactions have increased since the 1990s, Sherman said, which makes sense as communities expand and the state is now home to some 50,000 to 70,000 black bears. A few hundred of those live in the Angeles national forest, just north of the city and its millions of hungry households.
Brian Gordon and his partner moved to the state’s bear capital – Monrovia, California – four years ago. Their house is the last before the Angeles national forest begins, and as they were buying the home, a family of bears wandered through the back garden. It was the start of a new era of coexistence.
Family of bears play in swimming pool
Now, the pair regularly share their pool with a family of bears and document their exploits on an Instagram account called PoolBearLife. Videos show bear cubs with their snouts bubbling in the water, climbing – and falling from – trees and causing adorable, young bear mayhem.
“I only had education up until I bought this house of bears from whatever I saw online. I actually thought people get eaten by bears a lot,” Gordon said. “But after we bought the house, we had bears walking through. That’s really all they’re doing. I realized, OK, I have an unnatural fear of these animals and we’ve kind of adapted to living around them.
Experience: we found a bear swimming in our pool
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“People will say ‘you guys are the bear experts,'” Gordon went on. “No, we’re city boys. We bought a house that happened to have bears.”
Gordon and his partner live amongst the bears, but they’re also vocal advocates for doing so safely. Trash cans are kept clean, temptations are removed and, despite the filming, they give the bears their space. Sometimes mistakes are made and a bear finds a case of beer in the garage.
But with consideration, bears don’t even stop to sniff the trash cans and will just pass through the backyard like it’s an extension of the forest nearby, the couple said.
In a perfect world, Sherman said, human dominated landscapes that buttress the natural world would take steps to minimize bear contact. That means making neighborhoods as unattractive to bears as possible.
“Pet food left outside, koi ponds, fruit trees with a lot of fruit on them, swimming pools, all these things can be attractive to bears,” he said.
It’s not that human food tastes better, it’s just much more calorie dense and therefore easier for bears to pack on the pounds. In fact, bears that live or forage near human environments tend to reproduce more often and at higher rates, likely due to the availability of our food.
“It takes a lot of work to get the calories from, say, a half eaten pizza in the trash in equivalent calories from acorns and ants,” he said. “It makes sense to get calories from human food.”
The other major factor is climate crisis. Warmer summers can alter the availability of natural food and force bears to expand their ranges. Major wildfires like the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires were also linked to a lack in natural food sources, prompting the bears near Los Angeles to search in neighborhoAs September comes to an end, bear encounters with Angelenos will taper off for the season. Photograph: Poolbearlife via Instagram
Alex Heeran, a research scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who studies the human side of wildlife encounters, said human-bear interactions typically peak each year in late summer and early fall. September is often a very active month as black bears wrap up their pre-hibernation feeding frenzy, known as hyperphagia. Heeran said 2026 is on track to be a record year for reported bear encounters.
It’s also a time when people are out in large numbers around Labor Day for the year’s last picnics and camping trips. Fish and wildlife officials often receive reports of bears causing trouble—occasionally damaging fences, getting into sheds, and making a mess as they search for calories.
“The bear’s just looking for food, doing natural behavior, but it’s creating a situation that’s not ideal,” Heeran said. “A lot of the conflict can be prevented.”
Sometimes, however, that conflict can escalate, leading to a bear being euthanized or relocated. It’s rare, and wildlife officials try to prevent situations from reaching that point, but it does happen.
Bear drinks from water bowl
Earlier this year, the city of Monrovia was outraged after a mother bear known as “Blondie” was euthanized. Officials determined she had swiped at local residents twice, causing minor injuries. She had two cubs at the time. They are now being raised in captivity with the hope of eventually releasing them back into the wild.
Residents pushed for an alternative plan, but that effort ultimately became a memorial walk through the city in Blondie’s honor.
“The city was not a part of that conversation or decision,” Becky Shevlin, the mayor of the city—which is dotted with monuments to black bears—told the Los Angeles Times in March. “We were absolutely devastated, especially when you think about her having the two little cubs.”
Sherman said the spread of bear footage on social media, much of it captured by doorbell cameras that have exploded in popularity over the last decade, is a double-edged sword. On one hand, people get to see bears being bears, doing cute things.
“Bears are really cute, and a lot of the things they do are really cute … This is a real way to build meaningful empathy for wildlife, and building empathy for wildlife is a powerful motivator for conservation actions,” he said. “There is this risk of … kind of Disney-fying them. Black bears are by nature not particularly aggressive unless they are put in a dangerous or threatening situation, but they can cause damage. It’s best to give them their space.”
As September draws to a close, interactions between bears and Angelenos will thin out for the season. But residents of the city will have to contend with their neighbors again come spring, alongside the mountain lions, deer, and coyotes that call the city’s outskirts home.
“When people move to these foothill neighborhoods, a lot of people are moving in because they think it’s a suburb of LA. But they’re not necessarily thinking they’re going to have bears in their back yard,” Sherman said. “At first it can be really scary, but the people I’ve spoken to generally become accustomed to them.”
“Bears are super likable and this population of bears wouldn’t be there if people didn’t like bears so much.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about Beary Good Neighbors Humans and Animals Are Learning to Live Together in a Growing LA
1 What does Beary Good Neighbors mean
It refers to the growing effort in Los Angeles for people and wild animalsespecially bearsto coexist safely as the city expands into natural habitats
2 Why are there more bears in LA neighborhoods now
As housing and development spread into the hills and mountains bears lose parts of their natural territory They come into neighborhoods looking for food water and easy shelter
3 Which animals are we mainly talking about
Black bears are the main focus but the topic also includes coyotes mountain lions raccoons opossums and deer
4 Is it dangerous to live near bears
It can be but attacks are rare Most bears avoid people The bigger risk is property damage and food habituation which makes bears lose their fear of humans
5 What should I do if I see a bear in my yard
Stay calm do not run and back away slowly Make yourself look big and speak in a loud firm voice Once the bear leaves report it to local wildlife officials if it seems aggressive or unafraid
6 How do I keep bears out of my trash
Use bearresistant trash cans keep bins closed and secured and put trash out only on the morning of pickupnot the night before
7 Why is it bad to feed bears
Fed bears become foodconditioned They lose their natural fear return to neighborhoods and often end up being euthanized because they become a public safety risk
8 What are the benefits of living with wildlife
Wild animals help pollinate plants spread seeds control rodents and keep ecosystems balanced They are also part of what makes LAs natural areas special
9 What are common problems caused by wildlife in LA
Common issues include tipped trash cans damaged gardens eaten pet food car breakins by bears and occasional sightings near schools or parks
10 Are bears protected in California
Yes Black bears are a protected species in California It is illegal to hunt trap or harm them without a permit and feeding them is against the law
