Los Angeles' Unlikely Roommates: When Bears Become the Neighbors Next Door Los Angeles is home to an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 black bears, a number that has been steadily increasing since the 1990s.
As the climate crisis takes hold, warmer summers are altering the availability of natural food sources, forcing bears to expand their ranges in search of sustenance.
This has led to a surge in human bear interactions, particularly during late summer and early fall when black bears enter their hyperphagia period – a time of intense feeding before hibernation.