Whether bears, coyotes or mountain lions, in many of Los Angeles's foothill communities there is a sense that something wild and four-legged lurks beyond the asphalt and attached garages.
And on Canyon Crest Drive in Monrovia, residents know they live in bear country.
His street is frequented by California black bears that come down from the San Gabriel Mountains in search of food. And apparently one has a particular craving: Oreo cookies.
On Saturday, the bear visited a cul-de-sac hill property and left with a package of Nabisco cookies in its mouth, earning it the name “Oreo,” KTLA reported.
Resident Vina Khoury told the television station that the animal's presence has been disconcerting. “He's not just wandering around,” she said. “He is actually entering houses. So now it's really scary to leave a window open or your backyard door open or anything.”
Sweet tooth sightings American ursus are almost common on Canyon Crest, a stretch of suburban street dotted with swimming pools. The bear also ate a chocolate cake he found in a home's refrigerator, KTLA reported.
A black bear at the Nature Conservancy's Randall Nature Reserve in the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles.
(Greg Warrick/Nature Conservation)
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife did not immediately respond to an interview request.
As spring gives way to summer, black bears are known to venture deeper into residential communities in search of food. The endless invasion of natural habitat by humans has led to an increase in encounters with the animals, omnivores especially adept at scavenging.
They may not be grizzly bears (one hasn't been seen in California in 100 years), but black bears aren't always cute and cuddly. Hikers who encounter a bear should avoid eye contact, make noise and back away slowly, while appearing larger, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife advises. (“Shout, clap, use a whistle,” he says.)
“Most black bear 'attacks' are defensive actions if the animal is protecting its cubs, becomes frightened or scared,” the agency notes. “In some cases, a bear accustomed or conditioned to food may become too bold and act aggressively toward people.”
The specter of an attack aside, social media users were impressed with “Oreo” and took to X to deploy a series of dad jokes about the animal's taste predilections.
“Double stuffed?” one X user asked.
“Thin to keep your figure,” another wrote, referring to the lighter version of the Nabisco delicacy.
Mondelēz International, Nabisco's parent company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Canyon Crest bear may have a gimmick calibrated for social media stardom, but there's plenty of competition among Southland's cast of charismatic (and potentially dangerous) wild animals.
In mid-May, there was an unconfirmed sighting of a mountain lion in Griffith Park. The return of one of them to the 4,000-acre park about a year and a half after the death of P-22, the famous animal that lived there for more than 10 years, would be cause for celebration among some observers.
And the Times reported on May 10 that a bear photographed in the mountains above the San Gabriel Valley appeared to smile at the camera. Captured at night, the image showed the animal climbing a rock outcrop.
In the distance, the lights of Southland shone beneath a layer of haze.
Imagine how many Oreos were out there.
