Man Films Hair-Raising Encounter With Home-Invading Brown Bear

A California man filmed his harrowing encounter with a 300-pound bear which invaded his kitchen looking for a warm meal.

Sierra Madre resident Jason Wightman couldn’t believe his eyes when, just before dinner time on June 4, a massive brown bear nudged open his kitchen door and strolled right in. Wightman had been doing the washing up and had left his front door open for some fresh air.

“Hello, are you nice?” Wightman can be heard greeting the intruder. “You’re in my house. Get out of my house, Mr. Bear!” he continues casually.

The bear steps back, clearing the entryway but still standing firmly in the doorway as strings of saliva drop from its mouth and it licks its lips. “I’m warning you. Bear, bear, bear, be nice!” Wightman calls out. “Do you want me to spray you with water?”

Inevitably, the homeowner does spritz the bear, and the animal runs out to the backyard. Wightman follows with his camera, where he spots a second bear meeting the first on the grass.

“Is it just you two? I see you over there,” he tells the bears. “You alright? What you doing? I’m not going to hurt you guys, I just want you guys to move on,” he continues. “Go on, I got nothing here for you.”

Wightman watches the bears roam his yard, apparently looking for an escape route, before they slink over the fence into another unsuspecting resident’s yard.

“I’ve seen them in my front yard, but I’ve never seen them—they came in from the back side,” Wightman told KCAL News of the unprecedented incident.

“They are cute animals, but they don’t have a cute disposition,” Wightman’s father, John, told the outlet. “Their disposition can change on a dime.”

Sierra Madre is a hotbed for bear sightings, which already number 100 for this year. Three of those sightings, including Wightman’s, have resulted in bears making their way into residential homes. In 2023, the area reported 370 bear sights; 70 of those sightings involved uninvited bears entering someone’s house.