Bear breaks into crawl space of Monrovia home, stays for more than a week

MONROVIA, Calif. (KABC) -- Residents in Monrovia are no strangers to bear sightings, but some concern bubbled up after one large furry animal made themselves comfortable under one house for more than a week.

The homeowner, Jaimey Tate, says the bear broke into the crawl space under the home and stood there.

"I feel like I've heard him a couple of times. We definitely have heard him going through the trash and then last night, he got into the trash and was dragging it under the house and you could definitely hear him in that bedroom," he told Eyewitness News.

Tate isn't upset because he says the bear hasn't been a threat to anyone.

But given his wife is about to give birth, he wants the wild animal to simply find another place to call home.

"It's a little weird... about to have a baby and knowing that there's a bear under the bedroom where you're going to be putting the child. But he, I mean, other than trash, it's basically just a nuisance. He's never messed with anybody," Tate added.
Tate says the bear is tagged by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He says police won't do anything because so far the bear hasn't posed a danger to residents.

"The best advice we've gotten thus far is to put up a camera when you see that he's left... board it up so he can't get back in.. use a piece and sheet metal and bolt it to the building so he can't get back in, which is what we'll try to do over the next couple of days."

Kay Thurman lives around the corner from Jaimey and says the bear is known as Samson, a big loveable fur ball who's been in the neighborhood for years.

"He's a pet. He comes around, he sleeps in the front yard, goes in the back. He'll get in my trash if I have any chicken bones, he'll get them... a lot of these people might be afraid of him but he's harmless," she said.

Tate says Samson barged into a neighbor's crawl space before he became a squatter underneath his residence.

"We were talking to him last night from our bedroom window and he just sat there, munched on the food, and didn't bother anybody."

Eyewitness News reached out to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for comment but has not heard back.