The well-traveled bear, captured several weeks ago in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, appeared in Chatsworth’s industrial business district early Tuesday and positioned itself in a tree branch near homes and businesses.
The bear was spotted overnight south of the 118 Freeway in the western San Fernando Valley. Video showed the bear climbing over a chain-link fence, into a tall tree near an industrial park and then up into an apartment building across the street.
Residents gathered early Tuesday morning to watch the snoring bear.
The bear, which appeared to be wearing a tracking collar and ear tag used by wildlife experts to study California’s bear population, climbed down from the pine tree late Tuesday morning, wandered across the parking lot and ducked under an umbrella outside a store. A few minutes later, the bear climbed up another tree.
Police and wildlife officials were at the scene, with yellow caution tape blocking off the entrance to the business park.
The female bear, between 3 and 5 years old, is no stranger to wildlife officials. State wildlife officials said she was captured in late May in the Claremont area, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 50 miles from Chatsworth, and taken to Angeles National Forest. Officials have been monitoring the bear since then, tracking her collared movements along the 210 Freeway and into the Malibu area.
Authorities tried to capture the bear in the Northridge area on Monday ahead of its appearance in Chatsworth, where temperatures were expected to soar into the 90s on Tuesday.
The bear will likely be tranquilized and released back into the wild.
About California Bears
American black bears, which come in a variety of fur colors, enjoy eating plants, insects, nuts, berries, and anything else they think is edible (like the contents of trash cans). When food becomes scarce in their habitat, the bears will look elsewhere for food, likely leading them to the foothills of Southern California.
California’s black bear population has been on the rise over the past 20 years, from an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 in the early 1980s to 25,000 to 30,000, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, but that’s a conservative estimate.
Known for their small, narrow heads and tiny ears, black bears have fur that ranges in color from tan or brown to black. Females can grow to weigh around 200 pounds, while males can reach 350 pounds, with some giant bears weighing over 600 pounds.
About half of the state’s bears live in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and areas north and west of it. West-central and southwestern California is estimated to be home to just 10 percent of the black bear population.
Though they appear on the state flag, the fearsome grizzly bear is no longer found in California’s wilds; the last grizzly bear to be spotted in California was shot and killed in the early 1920s.