Pine Mountain Club, California — Bear encounters have become more viral in recent years, as we’ve seen them hanging out in hot tubs, grocery stores, and other spots typically frequented by humans.
In the community of Pine Mountain Club, they’ve become a daily occurrence, with instances of them entering homes and opening car doors and fridges. More than 560 bear encounters have happened in the SoCal community since July 2023, significantly more than the 319 reports from July 2022 to July 2023. For residents, it truly sounds like an unbearable situation.
NBC News traveled to Pine Mountain Club and spoke to residents about why this is happening there. The key theory is that some residents feel inclined to feed the bears despite that being the exact opposite of what you should do. Bears migrating due to past wildfires and droughts eradicating their food supply could be other factors.
Commentators on NBC News’s YouTube page weren’t sympathetic to the resident’s woes. Here are a few comments that bring up valid points:
- “This is like people who move next to an airport then decide to complain about the noise.”
- “Dude. You guys live in the woods. You moved into their neighborhood.”
- “That’s what happens when you build on THEIR land.”
For more information about this precarious situation, check out the video from NBC News.
Image/Video Credits: Pine Mountain Club Property Owners Association, NBC News
