Bear caught in Los Angeles foothills appears to be Twitter celebrity

KNBC'sAntonio Castelan reports.

A black bear that was tranquilized Tuesday in the backyard of a home in the Los Angeles foothills is thought to be the same one that picked up a Twitter following after frequenting the area on trash days.

The large bear, believed to weigh several hundred pounds, was roaming some streets and yards in La Crescenta for several hours when a wildlife official happened to be in the area and sprang into action, the Los Angeles Times reported.


"The timing was real good," said California Fish and Game officer Martin Wall.

Transferring the tranquilized bear to a truck was another matter, with Wall comparing it to "moving a water bed without a frame."

Locals have seen a bear in their midst over recent weeks. One garage was raided last month, with frozen meatballs taken from a fridge.

A Twitter feed was soon set up in his honor.

Among the posts: "Why did the black bear cross the road? To get to the other trash can."

KTLA-TV

Images from a KTLA-TV news broadcast show the bear and then Vaz Terdandenyan running away.

As the bear roamed early Tuesday, it was a near-death experience for resident Vaz Terdandenyan, who was texting on his cellphone when he looked up and spotted the animal in a passageway along his home, KTLA-TV reported.

"I got up this morning from helicopter noise and I was trying to see what was going on," Terdandenyan told KTLA, which captured the scare on video from a helicopter.

"I was texting my boss that I would be late for work because something is going on, and I'm coming down the stairs and I see the bear coming up the stairs toward me."

"I turned back and I ran for my life."

Plans are to return the bear into the nearby Angeles National Forest, KTLA reported.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

Discuss this post

Okay, stepping out your door and running into a bear, THAT'S a good excuse to be late for work. Saying "something is going on and I want to be a looky loo" isn't.

  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:03 PM EDT

What he should have said is, "Boss, I'm going to be late today. There's trouble bruin."

  • 9 votes
#1.1 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:28 PM EDT

We relocate wayward bears in SoCal, not murder them.

  • 1 vote
#1.3 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:35 PM EDT

More Like "I'm going to be a little late today, got to do an emergency load of laundry!"

  • 4 votes
#1.4 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:39 PM EDT
Reply

Know that's something I wouldn't want to bump into, day or night, hoodie or not!!!!!

    Reply#2 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:07 PM EDT

    Now, that's something I wouldn't want to bump into, day or night, hoodie or not!!!!!

      Reply#3 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:10 PM EDT

      Good thing he wasn't wearing a hoodie. He would have been shot. Then AL and Jesse would have demanded someone be arrested. After all, it was a BLACK Bear.

      • 1 vote
      Reply#4 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:21 PM EDT

      @onermailliw

      And Zimmerman wouldn't have an opportunity to panhandle for living expenses!!

      • 2 votes
      #4.1 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:27 PM EDT

      I donated a button and a piece of lint to his cause.

      • 1 vote
      #4.2 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:07 PM EDT

      LOL

        #4.3 - Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:42 AM EDT
        Reply

        Sometimes when life bears down, you just have to grin and bear it. That's the bear facts folks.

        • 2 votes
        Reply#5 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:22 PM EDT

        Returning it to the forest? It will only come back. Just ask the Colorado Division of Wildlife about that. Once a bear finds easy food from trash cans, it will always come back.

        • 1 vote
        Reply#6 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:31 PM EDT

        Hey I live in Wyoming and we would like to trade you a beautiful pack of Canadian Grey Wolves for your bear. You won't have any strays, your garbage will be kept up and your kids will stay in the house. You will also enjoy a multitude of animal rights advocates tons of government involvement and a ever increasing population of these beauties. You can't beat a deal like that for 1 little bear, so what do you say.

        • 5 votes
        Reply#7 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:31 PM EDT

        You left out that they won't have a stray cat & dog problem.

        • 2 votes
        #7.1 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:44 PM EDT

        I say I hope the wolves eat you for dinner.

        • 2 votes
        #7.2 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:41 PM EDT
        Reply

        Poor bear

        • 1 vote
        Reply#8 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:38 PM EDT

        Indeed poor bear - it's habitat invaded upon and it's reduced to eating from the garbedge cans instead of wild berries or fish or what ever wild things bears eat. We, the humans have reduced its habitat and we get upset when it invades our space - poor bear. It will get tranquilized and put back in the "wild" but it will come back to the same area because that's where the food is. Poor bear.

        • 2 votes
        #8.1 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:52 PM EDT
        Reply

        That's it, when you see a bear, RUN!

        Nothing like flight to trigger the predator response...

        • 3 votes
        Reply#9 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:40 PM EDT

        Black Bears are whimps. Slap your hands and yell they will leave. Unless it is a sow with cubs then you just turn around and walk away. I fish high creeks in WA's cascades 7 mos of EVERY year for 45 years. I see 5-10 a year. Griz, different story. You see Griz...walk backwards, head down and pray. Griz can not climb trees. Black bear can. Just make sure the tree you climb is big enough that Griz can not push it over or break it. FYI What panhead said about wolves...he is right.

        • 3 votes
        Reply#10 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:57 PM EDT

        BobW I see bear like this guy I s... in woods pants and everything else, no time for thinking of climbing trees, putting head down. Praying goes out with the rest.

        • 1 vote
        #10.1 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:27 PM EDT

        Bob, I appreciate the lesson in bear behavior - honest. But I've never seen a live grizzly - I assume it's a different color /size? Brown? Taller? But for the record, I'm NEVER ever going to go into the wild spaces of my country without a guide, a map, provisions, and my cell phone. It is good to know that there are still wild places in my country, where one can fish, hunt and rejoice in the glories of our natural habitat.

        • 1 vote
        #10.2 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:56 PM EDT

        Saw a grizzly climbing a tree at Toronto Zoo. So do not count on trees.

          #10.3 - Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:05 AM EDT
          Reply

          "I was texting my boss that I would be late for work because something is going on, and I'm coming down the stairs and I see the bear coming up the stairs toward me."

          "I turned back and I ran for my life."

          Always get fully dressed before going out and carry LOTS of toothpicks with you.

            Reply#11 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:57 PM EDT

            This would have been text to boss. Boss will be late I was BEAR!

              Reply#12 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:29 PM EDT

              Wheres Ranger Smith when you need him, poor Yogi just lookin for a pic-a- nic basket. No sign of Bu-Bu?

                Reply#13 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:36 PM EDT

                I've been taught that you should NEVER run from a bear. I have also been told that the bear will again show up in the neighborhood.

                  Reply#14 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:43 PM EDT

                  I'm from Alaska where this happens quite often. Unfortunately, our bears are shot and killed regularly if someone calls to say that there is one in their yard.

                  People need to stop leaving food out for the bears; ie; dog food, garbage and other enticing items that bears find delicious.

                  We are in their territory. Not sure if the same can be said for this CA bear.

                  Good advise Susie -NEVER RUN FROM BEARS, THEY CAN AND WILL OUT RUN YOU EVERYTIME. The best thing to do is lay down, curl into a fetal position and hope that is doesn't kill you.

                  • 1 vote
                  Reply#15 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:21 PM EDT

                  Come on, if you have a nice strong tall fence around your yard you won't have a wolf problem or bear for that matter. You want to live in the country expect wildlife to be right next door. You moved next to them not the other way around. You want to live like a hillbilly with no fence and your animals running wild everywhere.. and probably biting the neighbors' kids themselves.. you have to expect pets to go missing. Or get run over.

                  My neighbors dogs went missing and I live in the Valley, not a wildlife area. Later we found out they were roving as a pack of 4 and got shotgunned by a farmer a few acres away when they were ripping up his goats in their little corral. If only my neighbor had fenced his dogs. I even warned him to pen them up after his little pack had acted threateningly to me. He and his wife had reacted as if I slapped their face, never mind my safety. Their dogs killed 8 chickens ripped up several pigmy goats, threatened me and a 5 year old neighbor, and chased the little boy's pregnant miniature horse to its death and its unborn babys death. They payed for the chickens.. nothing else. Now they have no dogs and two neighbors hate them.

                  • 1 vote
                  Reply#16 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:42 PM EDT

                  I live in the neighborhood and I am happy that the bear was removed without being killed. When you live in an area up against the foothills nature is always present. There are cougars, coyotes, bobcats, snakes etc. They all come with the territory.

                  • 2 votes
                  Reply#17 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:48 PM EDT

                  This is why the EPA should be banned. That socialist organization and its ilk think more of animals than people. Man was created in God's image and the EPA is more concerned with animals than man. Therefore, the EPA is also anti-God. If "Obummer" gets in office again count on this: Your right to own and bear arms will be revoked. The EPA's policies will allow for more wild animals to roam free and threaten your homes and families. You will not have the means to protect yourselves because your guns will have been confiscated. Suddenly, there will be a national crisis of wild animals everywhere and "for your protection" you will be placed in FEMA camps. But not me. I will not give up my guns. You'll be inside "Obummer's" FEMA camps forced upon the teet of BIG NANNY STATE GOVERNMENT and I'll be outside looking in. I'll be sustaining myself upon God's word and all of the delicious bears and goats. Also from my cache of survival seeds that I planted in preparation for the Armegeddon. I call it my Armegarden. Keep leaning to the left losers, I'll be moving RIGHT along!

                    Reply#18 - Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:52 PM EDT

                    It's hard to tell if this Colbert-style satire, or if this person is a bona fide right-wing nut. Sadly, it's most likely the latter.

                    • 1 vote
                    #18.1 - Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:18 AM EDT
                    Reply
                    Comment author avatarHoppy MacSpudbuckvia Facebook

                    That bear is, in fact, former child star Winnie The Pooh. Like many child stars, once he grew up people stopped caring. His phone stopped ringing and his agent dumped him. The downward spiral began, fueled by drugs and alcohol. Now The Pooh lives in the mean Hills of Hollywood, eating discarded cheeseburgers and sleeping in dumpsters. Sad, really.

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#19 - Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:57 AM EDT

                    The public is tired of seeing "cute" kids dancing, dogs doing "funny" things and bears too.
                    Nuff said?

                      Reply#20 - Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:49 AM EDT
                      You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                      As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.