Moment giant bear roams street in broad daylight as neighbors fear increasing encounters

A huge bear was spotted roaming a residential sidewalk and front lawn in the Los Angeles area, as neighbors fear an increasing number of encounters.

The giant bear was recorded on video on Friday afternoon walking casually in Arcadia, which is about 20 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It moved slowly on Highland Oaks Drive and did not come across any people. The street is on the Angeles National Forest foothills.

Social media users were fascinated by the 23-second clip.

‘OF COURSE it’s casually roaming!’ one user wrote. ‘Who is going to stop it. WOW, what a beautiful creature!’

Another user commented: ‘Cool dude!! Leave him alone and he’ll do the same..learn to live in harmony with our wildlife.’

While the bear was not identified, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has said the black bear population is growing. Statewide, the organization says there are 30,000 to 40,000 bears this year compared to about 10,000 four decades ago.

Earlier this month, the city council of Sierra Madre, a neighboring city northwest of Arcadia, discussed passing a resolution to urge the department of fish and wildlife to bolster its policies and improve its management of the black bear population.

‘It’s more than a nuisance, and it’s already gone into the danger zones,’ said former Sierra Madre Mayor Glenn Lambdin, according to KTLA 5. ‘I think we’re sitting on a time bomb that’s going to explode and we don’t know when.’

The roaming bear was filmed just three days before a black bear was caught on CCTV emerging from a dumpster outside Zela Elementary School, in Nicholas County, West Virginia, giving Principal James Marsh a major scare. Marsh was handling the dumpster when the bear popped its head out. Both ran in different directions.

And two days before the roaming bear in Arcadia, another bear climbed a tree in the Mount Rose area by Reno, Nevada. It was recorded falling and flipping before landing safely on a tarp held by a crew of firefighters.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.