Posted on 11/04/2013 5:09:26 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Residents living on Paseo del Rico got an interesting wake up call Monday morning after a bear found its way into the neighborhood.
Sierra Vista police responded first got a report of a bear in the area of Foothills Drive and Camino del Norte “running through the streets and jumping over fences” at 5:47 a.m., said Cpl. Scott Borgstadt, public information officer for the department.
Eventually, the bear climbed into a tree in the yard of Robert Czzowitz’s neighbor in the 4600 block of Paseo del Rico.
“When I first came out, it was about, maybe 15 feet up. Then they shot it with a dart and it kind of bounced off of him and he went up about another 10 feet or so,” Czzowitz said.
The incident elicited a sizable police response, with about seven officers responding to the area, not including animal control, during the course of the event, which ended about 9 a.m.
“I came out and the whole cul-de-sac was just filled with police cars,” Czzowitz said.
Arizona Game and Fish officials arrived on scene at about 8 a.m. to find a healthy 6- to 8-year-old black bear, said Mark Hart, spokesman for Game and Fish.
“It wasn’t causing any problems, it was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time,” Hart said.
Wildlife officials were able to administer another dose of tranquilizer, in addition to the initial dose from Sierra Vista Animal Control, to the bear.
After that second dose, “it worked its way down a little bit then got real drowsy and fell just a few feet,” Czzowitz said.
Though it is well within a developed area, bear activity in the area of Highway 92 and Foothills Drive is not uncommon, as bears coming out of the Huachuca Mountains will utilize a wash from Fort Huachuca to make their way into the city, Hart said.
While temperatures are dropping, “we’re still in that window for bear activity,” he said. “They all should be bedded down for the winter by the end of December.”
Did you ever play the game: what animal would I like to be?
Well, I ALWAYS chose a bear: eats honey, gets to sleep most of the winter, no enemies, warm furry body, big, strong animals. What a life!
Caveat: NOT a polar bear in the North Pole, thank you!
Not only that, but Mr. Ranger gets to piss off various Seasoned Citizens while workin' to provide a high quality National Provocative Service.
Any idea where these bears get relocated to? So many of the forests in the SW have been burnt.
No idea.
There are a lot of bears in northern Arizona, and often they will go south for various reasons. Oddly enough, they will bypass Phoenix and end up in Tucson. This happens enough so that the Tucson PD has a “bear squad”, who have a regular drill.
Typically, for some odd reason, bears really like to scramble up palm trees, which don’t really afford a whole lot of concealment. The bear squad then sets up a bunch of empty cardboard boxes beneath the palm tree, before using tranquilizer darts.
Once the bear falls, they put him in a transport cage then take him in for examination. They give it a health check, administer any medicines it needs, give it a vitamin shot, feed it up for a couple of weeks, tag it and maybe give it a radio collar, then take him up north to release him.
You might get a kick out this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bjhjk2hHZU
There are a lot of bears in northern Arizona, and often they will go south for various reasons. Oddly enough, they will bypass Phoenix and end up in Tucson.
Malarky
Side note: I was in Europe some years ago and went to a zoo. They had a bull behind a big ole fence. The fence was about 5 and 1/2 feet high.
The bull GLARED at me right in the eye. As I walked away, I would turn and look at the bull. He kept glaring at me. It scared me because I thought that if that bull REALLY wanted to get to me he could have jumped that fence. He even pawed at the ground a couple of times. Ferocious beast!! Yikes!
What malarky are you talking about?
http://cronkitenews.asu.edu/assets/images/11/08/24-bears-map-full.jpg
Ranging from the Mogollon Rim to southeastern Arizona’s tall, isolated mountains known as sky islands, approximately 2,500 to 3,000 bears live in Arizona, according to Game and Fish. With large territories, bears travel between forest and desert areas, including lower elevations surrounding Tucson, Swann said. Black bears are most common in the White Mountains.
It's not even odd - the mountains run south from the Rim to Tucson east of Phoenix. The Valley of the Sun is well out of a foraging bear's way.
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