Bear tracks through center of town

Bruin captured, let go in Angeles National Forest

By VERONICA ROCHA
Valley Press Staff Writer

"He walked a good three, four or five miles," said Deputy Dan McPherson of the Palmdale Sheriff's Station.

After the young 175-pound bear was hit with a tranquilizer dart, it fell from the tree and ran into a dirt lot before passing out next to a woodpile, just feet away from an Antelope Valley Freeway onramp, said Lt. Martin Wall of the state Department of Fish and Game.

The male bear was shackled with leather hobbles, placed in the back of Wall's pickup truck and taken to the Angeles National Forest, where it was released near Mill Creek Summit, about 12 miles south of Palmdale. The bear loped off into the wilderness.

"It's the closest and most suitable bear habitat," Wall said.

The bear was first spotted about 5:30 a.m. Thursday walking along the Amargosa Creek channel behind the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 10th Street West and Avenue O-8. It was later seen traveling along the channel farther north at the rear of Birdies Driving Range, just south of Avenue M, deputies said.

About 5:41 a.m., an employee at the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Lancaster distribution center at 1123 West Ave. L-14 reported catching a glimpse of a bear in the parking lot.

Another employee, warehouse lead Lonnie Lovato, said he was checking up on supplies when he saw the bear enter the parking lot, run through a broken fence and climb up a tree.

"It was crazy, hearing the bear go up the tree," Lovato said.

Sheriff's deputies armed with beanbag-firing shotguns arrived and surrounded the bear, waiting for Wall to arrive with a tranquilizer dart gun.

Coca-Cola Distribution Manager Tim Noel said the bear was resting in a V between two large branches.

Noel said he and his employees weren't afraid of the bear and spent most of their time trying to take its photo.

"There were a lot of firearms between us and the bear," Noel said.

Wall said he shot the bear once with a tranquilizer dart, but the bear didn't respond.

"The dart didn't seem to have an effect like it should have," he said.

He then shot it with another tranquilizer dart, and deputies fired several beanbags at the bruin.

At that point, the bear fell out of the tree and ran a few hundred yards into the dirt lot before collapsing.

"He basically laid down and went to sleep," Wall said.

Sheriff's deputies poked the bear with a stick to determine if it was sedated. Wall placed leather hobbles on its paws and loaded it into the back of his pickup truck for the ride home.

"He was still reacting as I was putting the hobbles on," Wall said.

The bear, which he described as a "bit confused," slowly regained consciousness on the bumpy drive up to Mill Creek Summit, Wall said.

"He looked at me real quick," he said. "It's was unnerving."

May is the busiest month for bear sightings, Wall said. Mother bears often get rid of last season's cubs in May, so the cubs venture out of their mountain homes to seek food, he said.

During the spring, grass also dries out and natural food sources sometimes become scarce.

Wall believes Thursday's visit was likely the result of the bear's search for food.

"They've got to come down a little lower for food or water," he said.

Thursday's incident was the first one this year, Wall said, but the Antelope Valley is no stranger to bear sightings.

A bear wandered through back yards and hopped fences in May 2005 in a neighborhood at 15th Street West and Avenue O-8. Deputies with bear-tracking dogs found the bear asleep in another back yard. Fish and Game officials tranquilized the animal and released it back into the wild near Leona Valley.

A bear cub about the size of a large dog was spotted in June 2005 in a yard in the 5300 block of East Avenue T-4 in Littlerock. Fish and Game officials tranquilized the bear before setting it free in Angeles National Forest.

A Palmdale motorist in May 2004 struck a bear that suddenly appeared at night on Tierra Subida Avenue near the Pelona Vista Park soccer fields.

The injured bear disappeared into nearby hills.

About 30,000 black bears call California home, officials said.

vrocha@avpress.com