A black bear that wandered into a neighborhood in Lompoc on Tuesday earned a one-way trip back out of town.
Lompoc police and wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife monitored the animal as it traveled before tranquilizing him on the 900 block of West Apple Street.
“This guy was moving around pretty good,” said Lt. Jamie Dostal from state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “He was pretty mobile.”
Residents captured video of the adult bear, estimated to weigh 300 pounds, as it jogged along sidewalks and climbed on top of fences.
The bear was not aggressive and appeared to be “just trying to get away” and find its way out of town, Dostal said.
Authorities had not received any reports of damage from the bear’s forays into backyards and across fences.
Once tranquilized and given a quick exam, the bear was released 10 miles south of the city.
From past bears captured and equipped with an ear tag for tracking, wardens have learned their range can be fairly broad.
“They can travel pretty quickly over the course of a couple days,” Dostal said.
One bear reportedly traveled from an area around Interstate 5 in Gorman to Carpinteria, he said.
Wildlife encounters seem to mostly occur in the spring and early summer, he added.
Occasionally, a bear becomes problematic as wardens have experienced with one troublesome animal at Gaviota getting into trash bins at the beach and a school.
Wardens set up a live trap in hopes of catching the problematic bear for a move to a more remote area.
“He was too smart,” Dostal said. “We never got him to go into the trap.”
Lompoc’s bear is the latest wildlife encounter in recent weeks since the public health shelter-at-home order went into effect.
A different bear visited downtown Solvang last month before being relocated. He was so hefty the humans needed heavy equipment to load it into a truck for the trek out of town.
And Orcutt residents had an encounter with a mountain lion who wandered through a neighborhood before being darted and relocated to an area more suitable for big cats.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
