In the following KTLA report, a black bear who does not sound to have been hand-fed was shot by Fish and Game for what appears to be no discernible reason from the article. More information will be forthcoming when we have more.
Residents Outraged After Bear is Shot and Killed
(Courtesy: Erin Ellwood, Ojai resident)
OJAI -- Some residents in Ojai are outraged after a large black bear was euthanized after it climbed a tree and wandered through a residential neighborhood. The 400 pound bear was spotted in a tree in the 200 block of E. Aliso Street early Saturday morning where it stayed all day. Officials believe it was the same bear who was spotted wandering through the neighborhood a day earlier.Deputies from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department's Ojai station responded to the scene, contacted state Department of Fish and Game wardens and stood by to monitor the bear, sheriff's officials said. Members of the Fish and Game department arrived on the scene late in the afternoon after being contacted by the Sheriff's department. Officials initially planned to close some local streets and herd the bear about five blocks to an open lot, from which it could head back to the mountains. But, they decided the animal posed a safety hazard when it didn't come down from the tree by nightfall.
Fish and Game policy mandates that any animal deemed a threat to public safety be euthanized, officials said. At about 10 p.m. Saturday, a warden shot the animal twice with a tranquilizer dart meant to immobilize it, and once the animal was on the ground, officials loaded it into a pickup truck, drove it out of town, and euthanized it.
Residents who live nearby say they feel betrayed by officials who initially said they would allow the bear to return to the wild. A makeshift memorial, adorned with flowers, has been set up where the animal fell.
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