Adult Female Black Bear Wanders Miles Throughout Pasadena Neighborhoods Before Capture

A 200-pound female black bear wandered out of the mountain foothills Friday evening and Saturday morning led authorities on an hours-long game of hide and seek until she was finally cornered in north Pasadena’s Bungalow Heaven neighborhood, where she was tranquilized.

Lt. Marty Wall of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told 89.3 KPCC the bear was originally spotted late Friday afternoon but “it got dark before officials could find her.”

Then on Saturday morning at about 9 a.m., Pasadena Police Lt. John Mercado said the bear hunt began again after she was seen again in the 1300 block of E. Washington Boulevard.

Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Pasadena Fire and Police Departments took up the chase for the bear on the ground aided by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s helicopter from above.

Mercado said the bear was finally located and shot with a tranquilizer dart by Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens in the 1000 block of North Michigan Avenue at about 11:45 a.m.

 

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The bear had taken refuge in a pine tree, Mercado said.

When the dart’s effects took hold, the bear dropped out of the tree a distance of about twenty feet, according to a witness.

KNBC-TV reported the bear landed “in bushes and a pile of mulch” and “suffered no broken bones, but did have some scratches on her face.”

The bear was described by authorities as a mature adult, two or three years of age.

One resident in the area said authorities had tracked the bear “for a couple of hours straight down Mar Vista from the mountains.”

“She turned onto Claremont and then down Michigan… We have lots of cruisers and a chopper searching. It’s Saturday so there are a lot of families at the park, but it doesn’t sound like she made it that far down,” the witness said.

Some residents said it was roaming around “nonchalantly” and “hanging out on a nice day,” according to KNBC-TV.

“Saw it run through my front yard at Michigan & Claremont,” Chris Egebjerg told the Pasadena Fire Department on Facebook.

After the bear was unconscious, Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens tagged her and with the help of Pasadena Fire Department personnel loaded her into a truck for a return trip to the Angeles National Forest.