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'Meatball' Bear Tranquilized and Returned to Wild, Again

A hefty black bear—known by his Twitter fans as 'Glen Bearian' or 'Meatball' for his late night snacks in Glendale—was caught and tranquilized for a second time.

A bear found on a repeat visit to garbage cans of Glendale was spotted snoozing in a in La Crescenta tree, then was tranquilized for a trip back into the wild, it was reported Sunday.

The bear, known by several nicknames including was spotted around 7 a.m. Sunday in a tree in the 3000 block of Foothill Boulevard, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Glendale police and California Department of Fish & Game personnel blocked the area off and evacuated residences nearby.

The bear was roused from slumber when officials fired bean bag rounds at him then knocked out with four tranquilizer shots, The Times reported.

Around 11:45 a.m. Sunday a group of Fish & Game officers began moving the bear, who was apparently unconscious, to a safe area of the Angeles National Forest.

The bear, marked "R-210" with a yellow tag, was .  

On Sunday, it took four tranquilizer darts from fish and game officials before the bear landed and fell asleep on the lawn of . 

Check back with Patch for feedback from Glendale local Sarah Aujero, who handles @TheGlendaleBear on Twitter and Andrew Hughan from the California Department of Fish & Game. 

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Guest July 17, 2012 at 08:36 pm
Where was Fish & Game in 2009 when Arcadia PD killed two bears in two days? We need a more consistent policy for wildlife. These bears may be a nuisance, but they are not a threat. I'm glad to see the appropriate action was taken this time. Arcadia PD are you listening??
Apache July 18, 2012 at 01:32 pm
The Arcadia police department shot and killed two bears in 2009? I am absolutely shocked, disgusted and ultimately disappointed. Under what circumstances and where were they killed? Were these bears rabid or attacking people?? Black bears are very timid animals and occasionally do what's called a "bluff charge" to let another animal or person know that they need more space. I sure hope that these bears weren't killed simply because of a bluff charge or eating a small pet left outside but that's just pure speculation. Regardless this is horrible. If you would please join me "Guest" and anyone else to the city's next City Hall Meeting on 8/7/12 at 6:00 and ask city council to review Arcadia Police's policy towards wildlife (unless it has already been changed and if so please let me know because I find this quite disturbing).
Guest July 19, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Dear Apache, Yes in 2009 my then 9 year old son and I had to witness a black bear being shot out of a tree by Arcadia PD from a neighbors yard . No notice was given to the neighboring homes - just rounds of gunfire, and then, an even more dangerous event - a wounded bear trying to escape down the street - leaving a trail of blood, pursued by two Arcadia PD officers.
Apparently my neighbor to the west had alerted the police to the bear's whereabouts - there were 2 bears and they preferred to sleep in the trees in his backyard. This man apparently told Arcadia PD that he felt "threatened" by the bear. that was all the encouragement they needed. My neighbor later told me that he had been calling Arcadia PD about the bear off and on for about a year. So why did the Police Dept ignore these calls all year and then decide that in October enough was enough and they had to make a kill? The only response was that Fish and Game weren't responding and they couldn't wait until he arrived - the bear might have escaped. That might have been an excuse if the bear truly was aggressive - which it wasn't. Everyone concerned knew where the bears were living, it would have been an easy thing to find them and tranquilize them. The police were told that the bears had been lingering in this mans yard on a regular basis, that is how they knew where to go. The following weekend they were back - with better marksman, and higher powered weapons to kill the 2nd bear
Guest July 19, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Another neighbor called Channel 5 news when the PD showed up for the 2nd bear, and a crime scene was set up to keep the news van out. The woman was told she that she was under house arrest, to go home or be taken to the police station.
Since then, we have written letters to the mayor and received apologies and explanations, but it does not change what happened. I have no idea if the bear policies have truly been changed. It seems Arcadia needs a bear awareness program for when we do receive these giant, but gentle visitors. They want our garbage, not our pets. They amble off when confronted.
Apache July 19, 2012 at 03:56 pm
I’m really sorry that you and your son had to experience something so horrific. All my encounters with bears in the mountains above Arcadia have ended with me making a loud noise and the bear running off- truly timid animals that aren’t looking to harm us or our pets.
The situation in 2009 should have been handled differently by the Arcadia PD and I will do everything I can to prevent this from happening again because it’s just a fact of life living in the foothills that bears will come down. I agree that there needs to be a bear awareness program put in place because the only bear awareness I’ve ever seen in the city was the sign on Highland Oaks and Highland Vista Dr. and I’m not sure if that even exists anymore. In my opinion Monrovia has proven to be a great example of bear awareness. If you go to their website www.ci.monrovia.ca.us/ you’ll notice that on their homepage under “Public Notices” there is plenty of information about living with wildlife. Awareness and knowledge is the most powerful thing the community can have when dealing with wildlife. Why was she placed under house arrest? That’s very unsettling. You’d think the Arcadia PD would be completely transparent if they were confident that what they were doing was correct. Anyhow, I’m glad that there is an interest in the community for dealing with wildlife appropriately and I hope you continue to fight for what’s right.

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Dan Abendschein (Editor) June 11, 2013 at 04:34 pm
Hi Susan, The graphic shows that in only one year from 2002-2011 were more Hispanics arrested thanRead More Blacks (2011) - if you hover your mouse over each point you can see the raw number of arrests for each group each year. That's despite there being a substantially larger Hispanic population in L.A. County. The data comes from the Dept. of Justice and was reported by the ACLU - and I believe the point of the report is that there is racial profiling going on, not to suggest that black people are using more pot. In fact, the study suggests that there is not significantly more prevalent pot use among any one racial group. The figure 2.6 times as likely refers to blacks vs. whites, as in mentioned in the first sentence of the article, and comes from the ACLU study. Our intention was definitely not sensationalism but rather to direct readers to this national ACLU study that included L.A. County data. Let me know if I can answer any other questions.