iStockphoto
News correspondents have to be prepared for the unexpected when they’re reporting live from the field. There’s always a chance you’ll have to respond to a surprise situation as it unfolds, which was the case with one reporter in California who was covering a bear attack when one of those animals made its way into the frame.
The fact that California is one of the biggest states (as well as the most populous) in America and boasts a large number of potentially dangerous animals means it’s the source of plenty of headlines concerning some harrowing encounters between those creatures and people who reside there.
In 2025, The Golden State was the source of a slew of stories concerning the mountain lions that repeatedly managed to cause a stir, but those beasts had some serious competition from the many bears that were also responsible for some newsworthy situations.
That includes the saga of the one that made a crawlspace under a home in Altadena its den for months on end before it was finally evicted with the help of a volunteer armed with a paintball gun. One homeowner approximately 10 miles east of that location is dealing with a similar situation, and a local news crew got a glimpse at the culprit while reporting on an attack it may or may not have been responsible for.
A KTLA crew covering a bear attack in California captured a bear that emerged while they were reporting live from the scene
Wildlife officials in California estimate the state is home to upwards of 60,000 black bears, but attacks on humans tend to be pretty rare; on average, the state records a little over three per year, and there had never been a single confirmed fatality before a woman was killed in 2023.
On Saturday, a woman who was walking her dog on Oakglade Drive in Monrovia became the first documented victim of a bear attack in California in 2026, as she was treated for “non-life-threatening and non-serious injuries” after being charged at by one that clawed the back of her knee before fleeing the scene.
On Sunday morning, KTLA dispatched Erin Myers to the scene of the attack, and things took quite a turn when she was informed of the bear that had popped up in the driveway right behind her when the live segment kicked off.
Myers spoke with a neighborhood resident who said the bear in question (and its cub) has been living under his house for “several months.” It initially popped up in the vicinity of the trap that the Department of Fish and Wildlife set up in his driveway, and the camera stayed trained on the animal as it continued to roam the neighborhood (it’s unclear if the bear was the same one responsible for the attack).
Myers noted this was the second time a bear has crashed one of her reports, as a similar situation unfolded last October.
It turns out it’s been a big year for wild animals interrupting local news reports in California, as a coyote strolled through the shot as another reporter was covering a mountain lion that was captured in the heart of San Francisco in January.