Massive bear in Southern California claws, wiggles out from under home

Yet another bear has taken up temporary residence under a home in the San Gabriel Mountain community of Monrovia.  

The homeowners, Mark Chou and Mark Lanza, were watching a horror movie when all of a sudden, a real 250-pound creature started making a commotion under their home.  

“We were like, ‘Okay, something is under there,’” Chou explained. “We kind of tiptoed towards it a little bit and then I could hear a little more scratching and we ran back inside the house.”  

That something they heard was a big bear clawing at the crawl space opening and wiggling its massive frame out from beneath their home.  

“He was so big that he could barely fit through the crawlspace door,” Chou added. “He kind of pawed his way out.”  

Lanza and Chou said they are pretty used to seeing coyotes and raccoons lurking around their Monrovia neighborhood, so when they heard the loud noises Wednesday evening, they decided to set up a camera to see what was going on.  

“It sounded like someone messing with the plumbing, tapping on the pipes,” Lanza said.  

Just last week, KTLA reported on what appears to be a different bear in Sierra Madre, only about five miles away, making itself comfortable under Bob and Susan Nesler’s home.  

Bear break-ins in the San Gabriel foothill communities are pretty common and most homeowners have learned to cope with the big, furry nuisances, including Lanza and Chou.  

They replaced the old wooden frame and mesh screen for the crawl space beneath their house with a piece of sheet metal, which they hope will keep the bear out if the animal decides to return.