Kaleidoscope Eyes
May 6th, 2009, 06:29 PM
Residents of a Camarillo apartment complex received an unexpected visitor this morning: a bear.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department received a report at about 5 a.m. that a large brown bear had been spotted wandering through a densely populated part of town, said Capt. Bill Ayub.
Sheriff’s deputies followed the bear into the Avalon Camarillo Apartment complex in the 1500 block of Flynn Road, where they corralled the animal until shortly before 8 a.m. when wardens from the California Department of Fish and Game shot it with a tranquilizer dart, Ayub said.
Residents were advised to remain in their apartments until the animal had been taken away. [Updated at 8:50 a.m.: The 300-pound male was being trucked to a wilderness area in the hills to be released, Ayub said.]
It was not immediately clear where the bear had come from, but Ayub said it probably emerged from a creek bed about half a mile away and wandered into Camarillo in search of food.
“It was pretty far into town, though,” he said.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/bear-sighting.html
http://gallery.venturacountystar.com/Images/27149.jpg
(photo courtesy of Ventura County Star)
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My mom works at a school less than half of a mile from that complex, and bears are basically unheard of in Camarillo. Occasionally, one might be spotted closer to the mountains, in other areas of the county, but even that is pretty rare. I got an automated call at the house about 7:45 this morning from her school, saying something along the lines of, "There was a bear scare in the area this morning. It is now safe to go to school, the bear has been caught and tranquilized. Any student absences will be excused..." At that point I hung up because the interesting part was over and I don't have a student there. Even though I was still half-asleep, I thought it was a strange call. I don't know how it ended up here, without being sighted somewhere else first. It's a long walk from wherever it came from.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department received a report at about 5 a.m. that a large brown bear had been spotted wandering through a densely populated part of town, said Capt. Bill Ayub.
Sheriff’s deputies followed the bear into the Avalon Camarillo Apartment complex in the 1500 block of Flynn Road, where they corralled the animal until shortly before 8 a.m. when wardens from the California Department of Fish and Game shot it with a tranquilizer dart, Ayub said.
Residents were advised to remain in their apartments until the animal had been taken away. [Updated at 8:50 a.m.: The 300-pound male was being trucked to a wilderness area in the hills to be released, Ayub said.]
It was not immediately clear where the bear had come from, but Ayub said it probably emerged from a creek bed about half a mile away and wandered into Camarillo in search of food.
“It was pretty far into town, though,” he said.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/bear-sighting.html
http://gallery.venturacountystar.com/Images/27149.jpg
(photo courtesy of Ventura County Star)
~~~
My mom works at a school less than half of a mile from that complex, and bears are basically unheard of in Camarillo. Occasionally, one might be spotted closer to the mountains, in other areas of the county, but even that is pretty rare. I got an automated call at the house about 7:45 this morning from her school, saying something along the lines of, "There was a bear scare in the area this morning. It is now safe to go to school, the bear has been caught and tranquilized. Any student absences will be excused..." At that point I hung up because the interesting part was over and I don't have a student there. Even though I was still half-asleep, I thought it was a strange call. I don't know how it ended up here, without being sighted somewhere else first. It's a long walk from wherever it came from.