An investigation is underway after a bear was found shot outside Lompoc.
Patrick Foy, a captain with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s law enforcement division, tells KSBY they were notified of the incident the morning of Aug. 3.
He was unable to provide a specific location of where the bear was found, generally describing it as being in the Vandenberg Village community.
Foy says they had received reports of the black bear wandering around the community in the weeks prior, but relocation was not warranted given the area in which the bear was spotted.
“People see bears, or site bears, dozens if not hundreds of times every day in California,” Foy said.
“In this case—the area of Vandenberg Village—it’s completely surrounded, 270 degrees, with open space of habitat perfectly suitable for a bear.”
He says that because the community is small and the bear had not done anything to justify guarding, trapping or moving it, “no effort had been made to remove the bear.”
Foy adds that, even if they were to have trapped the bear, they would have taken it to the nearest suitable habitat, which would have been only a few hundred yards away from the neighborhood.
The killing of bears in California is illegal outside of bear hunting season, which has not yet begun and is never allowed in the Vandenberg Village area.
Foy says they are currently working on gathering surveillance footage and other information to determine whether the bear was shot lawfully.
A lawful shooting would mean that the bear was acting violently and had to be killed to protect someone or something, such as pets.
Foy also mentions that his department had been working with a neighborhood group in the area to provide tips on how to deter bears from coming near homes.
Some of these strategies include making sure garbage cans are secured, pet food is not left outside and rotten fruit that has fallen off trees are picked up.
