Large sticky paw prints lead away from fridge in California home after bear breaks in
A hungry bear broke into a California home and helped itself to a “sampler platter” before leaving behind a trail of evidence — in the form of sticky paw prints, news outlets reported.
Video shows the plum sauce prints and chaos the bear left behind inside the Sierra Madre home, which homeowner Chelsea Mapanda told KCAL she spotted when she returned from a night out at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13.
“It looks like the baby had a sampler platter, like a Chili’s sampler platter,” she told the station. “Hmmm a little here, a little there, maybe some of this, not feeling that.”
The bear also feasted on a blend of sweet and salty — and calorie dense — snacks: “some mangoes, an avocado and an entire jar of guava jam,” KTLA reported.
Bears are on the hunt for as much food as they can get their paws on to bulk up for winter, the station reported.
Mapanda told the stations she figured a bear had broken in and got back inside her car to call the police.
Sierra Madre Police warned others to avoid the area on Facebook.
“A bear is suspected inside a home in 100 block of S. Hermosa Ave,” police said in the post, adding that California Department of Fish and Wildlife was there handling it. “We are hoping for a quick and safe resolution.”
The bear had already made its escape by the time wildlife officials arrived, a spokesperson told McClatchy News via email.
The department has been all over Sierra Madre for weeks, trying to trap bears to tag them and move them to the an appropriate habitat, Tim Daly told McClatchy News.
“We know of at least 3 bears that have been spending time in that community,” he said. “But tags will help us (and the public) identify bears in the future — info that will help us learn which bear is responsible for which activity.”
Given where the community is located at the foothills of the Angeles National Forest, bear and other wildlife visits aren’t uncommon, he said.
People can report wildlife encounters via the Wildlife Incident Reporting system.
A bear was spotted taking a leisurely dip in a backyard pool nearby the next day, KTLA reported.
This story was originally published September 15, 2023 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Large sticky paw prints lead away from fridge in California home after bear breaks in."
