Source of this article - Los Angeles Times, June 30, 2007
By Gregory W. Griggs
Times Staff
Writer
A 200-pound black bear that wandered into a
neighborhood near downtown Ventura this week was safely subdued and returned to
the Los Padres National Forest, officials said Friday.
State game wardens
cornered the bear Thursday afternoon in a backyard in the 1300 block of Brodiea
Avenue and shot it with five tranquilizer darts, Lt. Chris Long of the state
Department of Fish and Game said.
It took about 90 minutes to catch the
bear, which scurried up several trees and then a utility pole even after it had
several darts in it. After climbing yet another tree, the dazed bear finally
fell to the ground.
The drug used in the dart gun incapacitates the
animal's central nervous system, leaving the bear awake but unable to move.
The bear was taken about 15 miles into the forest, given antibiotics and
minor medical treatment, then released.
Despite a popular misconception
that it is a threatened species, the California black bear population is
estimated at 25,000 to 35,000.
"The bears are increasing exponentially;
they're all over the place," Long said. "In the last few years, we've had bears
spotted near Thousand Oaks, Agoura, Newbury Park and spots in the Santa Monica
Mountains where you never saw them in the past."