Topanga has a new neighbor — a 175-pound mama bear with three cubs, a fondness for backyard camping, and a knack for turning garbage day into a foraging buffet.
In recent months, she’s been spotted rearranging tools in a resident’s pickup truck, raiding beehives under the cover of darkness, and padding across driveways like she owns the place.
Her name, at least to scientists, is Yellow 2291, or BB14, a black bear whose adventurous travels across Los Angeles County have made her a minor celebrity among wildlife biologists and a source of both wonder and wariness in this mountainside community.
“We were not expecting to see this when we captured this non-target bear in Claremont,” said Jessica West, a human wildlife conflict specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). “It’s been really incredible to see this range of movement, especially for a female bear.”
BB14’s story began in May 2024 when she was captured in Claremont by the CDFW as a 3-to-5-year-old adult female. Wildlife officials fitted her with a GPS collar and a bright yellow tag in her right ear — the standard marker for female bears — before releasing her into the Angeles National Forest.
Within weeks, she stunned biologists by trekking west along the 210 corridor, crossing four major freeways (14, 5, 118, 101), moving through the Santa Susana Mountains, the Simi Hills and into the Santa Monica Mountains, where bears are almost never seen.
Her movements were anything but predictable. In July 2024, she detoured into urban Chatsworth and had to be captured and returned to the Angeles National Forest. But she soon set out again, retracing her route west, wandering through Sylmar, Malibu, Calabasas, even the Pepperdine University campus, and — in one feat that surprised researchers — approaching the 405 freeway.
By late 2024, BB14’s collar data showed less movement, suggesting she had denned for the winter. In March 2025, CDFW and the National Park Service confirmed she had given birth to three cubs — two males and one female — in a remote area near the Topanga Canyon.
The den was close to the Palisades fire burn area, but she remained unharmed and continued hibernating throughout the fire, West said. Black bears sightings are rare in Santa Monicas, and a family of bears is unprecedented.
“We’ve had some bear activity, but this is really the first time that we’ve had a family unit of bears in the Santa Monicas, so we recognize that,” West said.
Since emerging from the den in spring, BB14 and her cubs have been spotted throughout Topanga Canyon — on porches, near beehives, and rummaging through trash cans.
The sightings have sparked fascination and unease. During a Tuesday night webinar hosted by the Topanga Town Council, residents peppered wildlife officials with questions about safety, trash management and whether the bear family was staying in one area or roaming the canyon.
Susan Clark of Topanga Animal Rescue told attendees she’s been fielding “boot-on-the-ground” calls in recent months — reports of bears digging into compost, snacking on beehives, being fed by residents and wandering near children or pets.
Longtime Topanga Town Council member Stacy Sledge said Wednesday that most incidents so far involve trash cans, and the council is working with Waste Management to secure bins and prevent BB14 and her cubs from relying on human food sources.
“She seems to really like Topanga, and who blames her?” Sledge said. “I raised my family here, so I think she wants to do the same.”
Sledge noted that Topanga’s designation as a certified wildlife habitat means the community strives to welcome and protect wildlife, but said residents must also balance that commitment with keeping their families, pets, and property safe.
Many residents have asked CDFW whether BB14 and her cubs could be relocated, West said, but there are no plans to do so. Relocation, she explained, would simply shift the conflict elsewhere, and this bear has already been moved twice, only to return to the Santa Monica Mountains on her own.
“She has shown just incredible ability for movement, and for that reason, my gosh, we don’t even know where would be the right place for this bear,” West said.
She added that relocation can carry risks, from vehicle strikes to conflicts with other bears. Any such move, she said, would require a formal plan and approval by CDFW leadership, veterinarians, law enforcement and other specialists.
Instead, CDFW and National Park Service are continuing to monitor the family and encourage the public to report sightings through the state’s online Wildlife Incident Reporting system.
West urged residents to focus on “attractant” management — securing garbage, pet food, bird seed, fruit trees, chicken coops and other food sources — as the most effective way to prevent conflicts with BB14 and her cubs.
“It’s up to everyone in the community to practice good stewardship,” she said, pointing to resources like BearWise and CDFW’s Human-Wildlife Conflicts Toolkit for tips.
Black bears, she noted, can smell 100 times better than humans and seven times better than bloodhounds, so even a faint scent can draw them in. Most will avoid people and dogs, but she stressed giving them space and never trying to feed or approach them.
For now, BB14 and her cubs seem content in Topanga’s rugged canyons. But wildlife experts said she may not be the last bear to make the trek.
“What we can do now to prevent conflicts with bears is just a starting point,” said Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist with the National Park Service. “We’ve had bears in the past, we currently have one and her cubs, and we will likely have bears in the future too — especially not only with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, but all these different connectivity projects we’re working on in the region.”
In the meantime, residents here are learning to live with their newest — and furriest — neighbor.