Bear Roams Pasadena Neighborhood

Residents on Topeka Street and N. Chester Avenue in Pasadena were startled to see a bear walking in the neighborhood Tuesday morning as they were getting ready to leave for work.

Beatrice Caprez, who lives on Topeka, said she was outside saying goodbye to her husband when police officers suddenly showed up and urged them to get inside because there was a bear in the area. Caprez said her young son actually saw the bear jump the fence next door, although the animal was taken down shortly after.

At the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA, Ricky Whitman said they went out with Pasadena Police and fish and wildlife personnel immediately after receiving a call about the bear and tracked it as it went through the neighborhood.

“The bear was very mobile,” Whitman said. “He went to about 15 houses and he was initially under one house on Chester. Fish and wildlife tranquilized the bear, but it takes a while for the medication to work. We were tracking the bear until it did work.”

Stacia Lambrinos, who lives in the neighborhood, was actually in contact with the bear just outside her home.
“It ran towards me and I screamed and ran inside. It was a rather large bear,” she relates.

Whitman said the bear was probably looking for food when it strayed into the Pasadena neighborhood.

“With the extensive drought, bears are coming down looking for water and food,” she says. “This is the time when the young bears are looking for their own territory, so it wouldn’t be uncommon. It would be a little surprising if you’re a homeowner, but it’s not an uncommon thing for bears.”

Whitman also offers some advice on what residents should do should they ever be threatened by a bear.

“If you come in contact with a bear, try and get as big as possible and scream and yell and don’t turn your back on the bear,” Whitman says. “Treat it with great respect. It is a very wild animal.”

Police and Los Angeles county fish and wildlife personnel brought the bear down with a tranquilizer and were able to move him out of the area at about 9:45 a.m. The bear did not do any damage to anything or hurt anyone, Whitman said.