Brian Gordon almost didn’t buy that house in Monrovia.
When they told him there were bears swimming in the pool on the property he was about to buy, fear paralyzed him for a moment. But that was four years ago. Today, in 2026, together with his partner Ricardo Martínez, he sees a female black bear arrive several times a week —whom they call Maddie—along with her cubs, who scratch themselves against trees, nap in the shade, and get into the water when the heat in Southern California becomes intense.
“There’s no problem with them coming here, as long as we don’t harm them or ourselves”, Gordon says. Some 1.600 black bears live in the San Gabriel Mountains, although their fur can also be brown, and encounters with humans have been increasing. That’s why the couple installed a camera to admire them up close without intruding on their space.
Experts nevertheless warn of something important: no matter how cute the scene may be, they aren’t teddy bears. They are still wild animals, and that is precisely the most honest part of this story of coexistence.