In just one year, there have been 600 bear break-ins at homes and businesses in the community of Pine Mountain Club.
Some California residents are installing electric fences on their doors to keep bears out.
Bears hibernate during the winter and in the spring, they wake up looking for food. In California, that means an estimated 40,000 bears are on the prowl.
Security patrols are going around a mountain resort town armed with non-lethal paintball-like pellets after some bears were found to have broken into homes.
The bear invasion is happening 90 miles outside of Los Angeles in the normally tranquil community of Pine Mountain Club.
In just one year, there have been 600 bear break-ins at homes and businesses in the community.
Resident Ian Sawry was asleep on his couch when he suddenly found a 400-pound bear wandering in his home.
Sawry scared the bear away with a taser which he now keeps nearby at all times. He also installed highly charged bungee cords outside his garage, windows and doors. The voltage is strong enough to shock a bear but not kill it.
“We would just hook these up when we’re leaving for the night or overnight,” Sawry tells Inside Edition.
For Elisa Christiansen and her son Nico, business is brisk. They make extra money by boarding up neighborhood windows and doors broken by hungry bears stealing food like trail mix and maple syrup.
“At this point, they’ve lost their fear of humans and they’ve discovered that our houses have food,” Elisa says.
The bear invasion is so severe the town has organized nightly patrols as the primetime for bears to look for food is after dark. The patrols check neighborhoods, picnic areas, and the garbage dump, a favorite hot spot for bears. They use non-lethal force to drive bears out, but they keep coming back.
