A black bear was seen running through the streets of downtown San Luis Obispo on Tuesday morning, eventually making its way into a backyard on Mill Street.
The bear was first spotted at around 5:50 a.m. in the area of Peach and Osos streets, according to city officials.
“Luckily, one of our roommates works for Animal Services, so that was a pretty easy, you know, wake up, call your boss right now -- there's a bear in our backyard,” said Tanner Maghoney, downtown San Luis Obispo resident.
Maghoney and his roommates live in the house where the bear ended up, but it was Justus Cooper who got the knock on his window alerting him of the bustling bear.
“It was probably four feet from the window. I basically went to all their doors and was like, they gotta check it out,” Cooper said.
“It’s just kind of a large shock factor. You don’t really know what to say or do, you kind of just look at it. There’s just a massive brown bear in our backyard,” Maghoney said.
Within a few hours of being on-scene, San Luis Obispo County Animal Services, California Fish and Wildlife, along with the San Luis Obispo Police Department were able to tranquilize the bear and relocate it to a more suitable habitat.
Fish and Wildlife officials tell KSBY that the bear was well over 300 pounds and that it was released into the Los Padres National Forest.
The four roommates were understandably surprised the bear showed up in their yard, and for each, it was a unique experience.
“I’ve never seen a bear this close outside of a national park,” Maghoney said.
“I’m from Tahoe, so it’s rare not to see a bear,” Felipe Guevara added.
“I’m from Lompoc, so I’ve seen lots of bears over there,” Christopher Campos said.
Dr. Eric Anderson with San Luis Obispo County Animal Services says seeing a bear in this area is more common than you would think. You might remember in May of last year, a black bear found its way into a tree in downtown Paso Robles. Mountain lion and bobcat sightings are also fairly frequent on the Central Coast.
Dr. Anderson says to not be alarmed by this situation because it’s expected from time to time living in an environment like the Central Coast with cities that border the animals’ natural habitat. Animals like bears use overgrown wilderness areas or creek beds throughout town as protection and natural channels for their travel.
Dr. Anderson offered a few tips to help keep bears and other wild animals from your property:
- Keep your trash secured
- Keep fruit off the ground and harvested
- Feed pets indoors when possible
Dr. Anderson says he’s happy with how everything was handled and that the bear is back in its natural habitat.
