A Monrovia community is heartbroken after a mother black bear was euthanized this past weekend. On Saturday morning, the bear swiped at a woman while walking her dog, an instinctive act to protect her newborn cubs, which were sheltering in a den beneath a nearby home. The woman sustained minor injuries, while her dog remained unharmed.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) captured the mother bear and her two cubs on Sunday after they had been hiding under a house. DNA testing confirmed that the mother bear had been involved in a previous human‑bear encounter in the same neighborhood in 2025, and officials made the difficult decision to euthanize her.

“I am sorry to share the unfortunate news. The Monrovia City Council requested and lobbied for the bear and her cubs to be relocated into the Angeles National Forest, but the decision was never the City’s to make. By the time we were able to speak with state officials involved in the decision-making, the decision to euthanize was already made,” Dylan Feik, the Monrovia city manager, wrote in a statement.

The bear’s newborn cubs were safely taken to a wildlife facility, where they are receiving care and are expected to one day be returned to the wild.

Animal advocates emphasize that the mother bear’s behavior was a natural maternal response.

Many in the community are heartbroken over her loss and point out that human expansion into bear habitats is increasing the frequency of such incidents. The bears were simply following instincts that have allowed their species to survive for generations.

Though the mother bear’s life ended tragically, her cubs will grow up guided by the protective instincts she fought to preserve and, hopefully, one day return to the wild. Animals acting in self-defense to protect their young should never be killed for simply being wild.