Each day seems to bring new footage of black bears wandering through the foothill communities of the San Gabriel Valley—but rarely is it this cute.
Brittany Kallin captured cell phone video of a mother bear and cub playing on a street near Monrovia’s Canyon Park on Friday, apparently unconcerned that humans were watching and that cars were driving by.
Brittany tells KTLA that she kept her distance while filming the two bears as they wrestled with each other and rolled around the asphalt, playing much as if humans would.
Black bears are a common sight in Monrovia, Sierra Madre, and other communities nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.
In another recent video from the area, a brave 15-pound poodle named Potato was seen chasing a large black bear from the backyard of the McCloskey family’s home.
“I thought he was actually going to get seriously hurt,” Jillian McCloskey told KTLA 5 News.
The dog was unharmed, and the bear also seemed to be okay.
Also in Monrovia, Bree and Jamey Tate called wildlife officials after learning that a bear had made a den of the crawlspace under their home.
The couple called animal control, which told them that there was not much they could do. Wildlife experts say that if the animal is not threatening public safety or confronting people, they don’t typically get involved.
California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife asks anyone who spots a bear in their neighborhood to notify them by going to their website.
There are an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 black bears living in the wild in California.
