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Hibernation Time Over, Here Come The Bears

ARCADIA (CBSLA.com)  —  It's said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

A large black bear in Arcadia Wednesday clearly agreed. Video captured the bear carrying garbage in its teeth and enjoying a snack.

"Tuesday night is bear night. Because all the trash cans are out," said Jon Matheny, an Arcadia resident.

Matheny has lived in Arcadia for 35 years. He's used to the bears -- he says he's seen them a few times every year.

"My son was looking out the window one time and he saw the top of the bear standing on all fours over the trash can," Matheny said.

Residents have begun to heed the warnings of officials to keep their trash locked up.

"In the summer I will put the trash in the garage and not outside otherwise big trouble all the time," says Benjamin Shabtay.

He lives up the street. He snapped a picture of a bear in his backyard last summer.  Around that same time, Sky 9, captured a video of a bear family taking a dip in a Pasadena family's pool. There were other sightings.

Shabtay says he's barely seen his bear neighbors. The last sighting for him, maybe last summer.

Bears tend to hibernate during cold winter months. Because it's so warm in the southland, they do something called denning -- their metabolism slows down as if they were in hibernation but they're basically just taking long naps.

Officials believe our relatively cold and wet winter is likely the reason the bears didn't come out much.

That is already ready to change. Bears come out in the spring and the females give birth.

Shabtay says that's when the bears come around, mostly he says, to make themselves feel at home.

"In my pool, in the Lockwood tree, all over," Shabtay says.

Earlier this week, one bear got a little too close for comfort at a home in Lake Tahoe.

Officials say black bears aren't inherently aggressive. If you see one, back away but don't turn and run

People who live here are more than happy to greet their bear neighbors.

"I'm a guest here," said Shabtay.

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