Tree-napping mama bear started day eating birthday cake

Turns out the tree-napping mother bear spotted near Altadena was eating some leftover birthday cake when she was first spotted early Thursday.

Judy Miller, 73, said her husband, Keith, walked out of their house in the 1400 block of Edgecliff Lane early Thursday to grab the newspaper when he spotted a bear just 10 feet away in their driveway, rummaging through the garbage cans.

“He backed up and ran to the house and the bear ran to the tree,” Miller said. “He didn’t know at the time that she had any babies.”

PHOTOS: Mother bear and cubs up a tree

The couple began calling neighbors as the mother bear and two cubs settled into an oak tree in their front yard, apparently taking a morning nap.

A sheriff’s deputy and a Fish and Game warden arrived on scene to monitor the animals and now have blocked off the area to keep onlookers back.

Miller said the mother bear spent some of the morning moving back and forth between two oak trees, sometimes using the roof to get across the branches.

“The bear seems to be having a nice time,” Miller said.

The couple have lived in the house since 1985 and sometimes see deer, but never anything like this, Miller said.

However, some neighbors have spotted bears in the past.

“We must have fabulous trash,” Miller said.

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-- Kate Mather

Photo: A mother bear and her two cubs settle into a tree above a home on Edgecliff Lane in Altadena. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times