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

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