Lone creature travels hundreds of miles and visits California neighborhoods. See it
A well-traveled creature has been visiting neighborhoods across southern California, and no one knows what might have inspired it to do so.
Wildlife officials have been able to track the movements of a female black bear with a knack for traveling long distances and showing up in populated suburban neighborhoods, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told McClatchy News over the phone.
The department knows her as Yellow 2291 from back in May, when the department captured her after she was spotted in a tree in an industrial part of the neighborhood of Chatsworth with no clear route back to the wilderness, spokesperson Tim Daly said.
The department dropped her off in more remote suitable bear habitat in the Angeles National Forest, but she made her way back across 50 miles and over or under major freeways to more crowded suburban areas in the Santa Monica Mountains before too long.
But as for why, “it’s a mystery to us,” Daly said. “You’d think the bears would be happier out in the woods,” but their ability to find food sources in the suburbs might have something to do with it, he said.
Other wildlife agencies have noticed the bear’s presence as well.
“Now here’s something you don’t see everyday in the Santa Monica Mountains!” the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority said on Instagram. The agency manages public parks in the area. “We received a reported sighting of a bear near the San Vicente Mountain Park last week. And, we’ve received this photo of a bear in the neighboring vicinity that was spotted on security cameras last week!”
Fish and Wildlife believes the bear spotted in the park is Yellow 2291. Records show she was in that area at that time, Daly said.
“This isn’t the first time a bear has … made its way into the Santa Monica Mountains and San Fernando Valley areas,” the park management agency said. “Merely three months ago, a female bear tagged by CDFW ‘Yellow 2291’ was in a tree at a business in Chatsworth.”
Since the department took the bear back to the Angeles National Forest, she re-appeared in the Santa Monica Mountains during the first week of August, and has been in that area since, Daly said.
She even trekked all the way down to Malibu at one point, SFGATE reported.
“It is unusual for bears to travel as far as this one has, and to make it under or around all those freeways,” Daly said. “That is what is unusual. This is pretty remarkable how much traveling this bear has been able to pull off considering all the potential issues and barriers she’s faced.”
People in the comments hoped the bear would keep being able to dodge traffic on the dangerous roadways.
“I hope he/she remains safe from ppl and cars,” someone said. “My heart can’t take a P-22 type of news about any animals ever again.”
P-22 was an iconic Hollywood mountain lion that gained worldwide fame for surviving in and around Los Angeles until he was hit by a car and later euthanized, McClatchy News previously reported.
Several mountain lions have been killed while trying to cross California freeways, with usually two or three dying every year, Daly said.
And last summer, the first bear to call the mountain range home in decades was killed on a freeway, McClatchy News previously reported.
“This is my street, two weeks ago!” another person said. “For her safety I hope she heads north, this street is in a very congested area with a lot of traffic.”
Fish and Wildlife have no plans to relocate Yellow 2291 again, unless she becomes a public safety threat or can’t get back to the wilderness on her own, Daly said.
“We prefer not to capture wildlife if we don’t have to,” he said. “If they’re doing what animals do, experimenting and exploring, we don’t step in. We hope that they will find a path back to the wilderness and continue on.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Lone creature travels hundreds of miles and visits California neighborhoods. See it."
