Home Invasion…BEAR

Invasions, and pepper spray, and bears! Oh my! – Courtesy photo

By Susan Motander

As I write this, it was just over a week ago that an adult female California Black Bear attempted to break into my kitchen. What made this especially troubling is that she not only succeeded in ripping a hole large enough to get her nose and one paw into the kitchen, but that she was accompanied by her two cubs. While “Mom” was busy at the kitchen door, the little ones were leaning on the screen outside the main back door.

In modern sociology speak, the parent was “modeling bad behavior” and the youngsters were “patterning their behavior” after that of their mother.

This sounds less threatening than it felt at the time. Adult female bears (especially this one) tend to be big (my estimate was that she weighed about 350 pounds). Her efforts to get into the house literally shook the building. I have long wondered if I would hear a bear breaking into the house if it occurred at night. If this effort was typical of bear activity, I have no doubt I will hear a bear. Her attempt actually knocked the clock off the wall.

I am sure she would have torn her way through the door and into the house if my husband had not stepped outside the back door (knocking the cubs on their cute little round tooshies) and spraying her with capsicum spray. This so-called “pepper spray” is specifically designed for use against bears. He also sprayed a bit over the heads of the cubs (a bit of aversion therapy). “Mom” withdrew quickly after a full dose of the spray (my husband had wisely dashed inside and slammed the back door behind him). The three bears retreated by staggering back into the hills.

They have not returned.

I have been living here in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) for more than a quarter century. I inherited that house from my grandmother who lived here for 50 years. And while I had a bear wander into my kitchen many years ago (I blame Governor Gray Davis for that as he was urging Californians to use cross ventilation, so I had left the back door open with just the screen shut – it was too tempting for that female), for the most part, I have had very little trouble with bears.

That bear exited after I walked into the kitchen, not realizing the toenails I heard on the linoleum were not my dog’s, and yelled obscenities at her (who knew a bear would be so easily offended by inappropriate language). Unfortunately, she had found food in the kitchen (her own blend of a pound of coffee, a 12 oz. package of egg noodles, and a few paw-fulls of dog food she managed to pull out of Winner’s 10 pound bag), and she returned that night.

Again, my husband employed “pepper spray” when that bear returned again that night and once more tried to pry open the screen, not realizing the door was shut this time. That time my husband only had to crack open the door, hit her with the spray and quickly shut the door. She turned away, but made a small error in turning back toward the door. When she opened her mouth (who knows why, to growl, to complain…) and received a throat-full of the spray. She staggered off and never returned.

There was also the very pregnant bear who thought the area under my house would be an ideal maternity ward. Fortunately, Monrovia P.D. convinced her to leave (again using a pepper spray designed for use on animals). They tried to convince her to turn into the hills, using bean bag projectiles. She was not interested and wanted to walk along the street. They kept up the bean bagging until she lumbered into Bradbury. They did not follow.

But for the most part, the bears and I ignore each other. They steal the avocados (five trees and I have never gotten a single avocado before the bears). I freeze interesting smelling trash and never put my kitchen trash out until the morning of collection, so I rarely have my trashcans dumped (the exception is when clueless guests throw out inappropriate trash and I now lecture visitors – I think they pack their trash out rather than upsetting me).

The bears normally lumber past my house. Occasionally, a cub will turn the metal handrail around the front porch into a little jungle gym and swing around the bar. I have given up on establishing any new fruit trees (I inherited the avocado trees, and the one sour orange tree that was well established did not survive the drought). We have reached a sort of détente. I try to prevent interesting them in me and they ignore me.

Why the bear last week took an interest is what concerns me. I was not yet cooking dinner, so there were no tempting smells emanating from the kitchen. There was no reason for the attack on the door, except perhaps as an object lesson for the cubs.

I have had the damaged door boarded shut (I do hate losing the light that came through the window in the top half of that door) and put trash cans outside the boarded up door (more noise to alert me). Tomorrow I intend to put ammonia soaked rags in the trash cans (a suggestion from the Monrovia officer who responded to my call for help). And I will carry pepper spray with me from now on. I would rather not be caught unaware again. Not every bear may be as easily offended by colorful language.

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