Bear cornered in tree at Paso Robles shopping center: ‘I want to pet it’
A bear wandering near a Paso Robles shopping center on Thursday morning prompted a big response from police and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as they attempted to corral the animal away from the heavily visited area.
Paso Robles Police Department Cmdr. Tod Rehner said there was actually first a reported bear sighting near Third and Oak streets on Wednesday night.
Then Thursday morning, officers received a call of a juvenile brown bear roaming around Target on Theatre Drive, he said.
Officers arrived and found the bear walking near the rear of Outdoor Supply Hardware and Chili’s, Rehner said.
“The bear got spooked and ran until it found a big tree to scamper up,” he said.
Around noon, officers with the Police Department and CDFW representatives were on scene attempting to get the bear out of the tree in the parking lot.
Initial attempts to shoot a pepper ball above the bear to try to get it to come down out of the tree were unsuccessful, and they had to wait to try to tranquilize the bear until it was lower in the tree, Rehner said.
Meanwhile, about a dozen spectators gathered at the edge of the parking lot area police blocked off to watch the scene unfold.
“I want to pet it,” one person said. “I want to cook it,” another replied.
Access from the northern part of Theatre Drive was temporarily blocked off and traffic diverted behind the shopping center while authorities were on scene.
The bear was finally captured around 1:20 p.m. after it was shot with a tranquilizer dart when it crawled out of the tree to escape. The bear scurried back up the tree, but a few minutes later fell out and was caught in a tarp being held by on-scene personnel.
“It fell into the tarp and all is OK,” Rehner said soon after the bear was caught. “The bear will be relocated to the wilderness.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2023 at 1:10 PM.
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