Bear Returned to Mountains After Taking Dip in Pool
Published: May 23, 2005
An overheated bear, or perhaps a bear in heat, was back home in the mountains today after ambling through a Porter Ranch neighborhood and taking a dip in a homeowner’s pool, authorities said.
A resident called 911 about 6:30 p.m. yesterday to report that the bear was in the backyard of a home in the 17800 block of Orna Drive, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Los Angeles Animal Services and state Fish and Game Department personnel were dispatched to figure out how to get the beast back into the wild.
No injuries were reported, although the bear attracted curious neighbors.
The homeowner said her children were in the pool when the bear arrived. “We were in the swimming pool, my kids were swimming, I was by it,” homeowner Maryam Salahael said. “My dog began barking very loudly. I went to see what’s going on. I see a bear in my backyard.”
She said she got her children inside and called 911.
“I think he was looking for water,” Capt. John Mitchell of the Los Angeles Fire Department said. “When we got here he seemed very hot, very tired, was panting heavily. I really think he was looking for water, and he found it.”
However, a Fish and Game official said the 140-pound black bear was a female and may have been looking for love, in the wrong place.
“It’s a female bear, it looks like it’s possibly in heat,” said Cindy Wood of the state Department of Fish and Game. “She probably just made a wrong turn and ended up in a neighborhood. She belongs up in the hills, and that’s where she lives.”
Fish and Game personnel shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun, causing it to fall asleep by the pool, said Humphrey.
“She was tranquilized,” Wood said. “She walked around, she actually did fall into the pool. She had a noose put around her and she was pulled from the pool by my partner and they held her until the drug took effect.”
Earlier, residents said the bear knocked on doors and windows as she crossed several streets and climbed a wall before finding her way into the backyard, where she took several swims and walked around for a couple of hours.
The bear, an older adult, did not appear agitated or aggressive and was in good health, authorities said.
The bear was released in the Santa Susanna Mountains, Wood said. “I’m glad it turned out OK,” neighbor Diana Spencer said. “I’m happy they are going to take it back up to its home and let it live out its life, and hopefully never come down here again.”
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