Squatting bear won't leave after breaking into crawl space of home: 'He's harmless'

MONROVIA, Calif. -- Residents in Monrovia, California are no strangers to bear sightings, but some concern bubbled up after one large furry animal made itself comfortable under one house for more than a week.

The homeowner, Jaimey Tate, said the bear broke into the crawl space under the home and stood there.

"I feel like I've heard him a couple of times. We definitely have heard him going through the trash. And then last night, he got into the trash, and was dragging it under the house. And you could definitely hear him in that bedroom," he told ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC.

Tate isn't upset because he said the bear hasn't been a threat to anyone.

But, given his wife is about to give birth, he wants the wild animal to simply find another place to call home.

"It's a little weird: about to have a baby and knowing that there's a bear under the bedroom where you're going to be putting the child. But he, I mean, other than trash, it's basically just a nuisance. He's never messed with anybody," Tate said.

Tate said the bear is tagged by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He said police won't do anything because so far the bear hasn't posed a danger to residents.

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"The best advice we've gotten thus far is to put up a camera when you see that he's left, board it up so he can't get back in, use a piece and sheet metal and bolt it to the building, so he can't get back in, which is what we'll try to do over the next couple of days," he said.

Kay Thurman lives around the corner from Tate, and said the bear is known as Samson, a big loveable fur ball, who's been in the neighborhood for years.

"He's a pet. He comes around, he sleeps in the front yard, goes in the back. He'll get in my trash if I have any chicken bones, he'll get them. A lot of these people might be afraid of him, but he's harmless," she said.

Tate said Samson barged into a neighbor's crawl space before he became a squatter underneath his residence.

"We were talking to him last night from our bedroom window, and he just sat there, munched on the food, and didn't bother anybody," he said.

KABC reached out to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for comment, but has not heard back.