A veterinarian will exam the bear, then agents will decide whether they will release it into the Angeles National Forest.
Residents had reported multiple bear sightings overnight Wednesday in La Crescenta neighborhoods, prompting sheriff’s deputies to put out an alert and search the area with a helicopter.
“Nobody really reported him as being aggressive,” Shepard said. “He was just looking for food.”
Despite the reports, deputies on foot and in the air did not find the bear around homes near the Foothill (210) Freeway. The area is a surprising distance from the mountainside neighborhoods where most wandering large animals are typically sighted, sheriff’s Sgt. Gloria Young said.
Two residents called authorities at about 7 p.m. Tuesday reporting bear sightings near the 4400 block of Ocean View Boulevard and a third caller reporting seeing a bear at about 2 a.m. in the 2700 block of Prospect Avenue, Young said.
“I was surprised,” said Young, later adding, “I don’t know that we’ve every had a bear sighting this low in the city.”
Animals haven’t really wandered from the forest to residential communities since the Station fire, she said. But authorities said animals will likely start venturing into communities because their food sources were burned during the fire.
“This little bear had burn marks on his back paws,” Shepard said. “It’s sad and he looked skinny. Maybe he couldn’t find any food. That’s why he came down.”
