Bear Wanders Miles into Residential Pasadena Neighborhood, is Tranquilized, Returned to Wilderness

A 300-pound bear apparently wandered out of the mountain foothills Saturday morning and led authorities on an hours-long game of hide and seek until it was finally cornered in north Pasadena’s Bungalow Heaven neighborhood, where it was tranquilized.

Pasadena Police Lt. John Mercado said the bear hunt began after it was first spotted in in the 1300 block of E. Washington Boulevard about 9 a.m.

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

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

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.

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

After the bear was unconscious, Fish and Game wardens with the help of Pasadena Fire Department personnel loaded it into a truck for a return trip to the wildnerness.