Sanctuary marks Meatball the bear’s ‘birthday’
An 11th birthday celebration was held on August 25 for Meatball, the famous black bear at Lions Tigers and Bears in Alpine. Meatball got a birthday box of goodies that he tore into and received food donations from the public.
On his 11th birthday, Meatball — known locally as Meatball, the Glendale Bear — had a party with 30 of his friends and family at his home in Alpine, Calif., in San Diego County.
The 500-pound California black bear ate a 6-pound salmon to celebrate.
He lives at the Lions, Tigers & Bears rescue facility, where he was placed in the summer of 2012. Meatball was captured by the California Fish & Wildlife Department after several adventures wandering the streets of La Crescenta and taking dips in a backyard swimming pool of a Glendale home.
Attempts to keep him in the Los Angeles Forest did not work.
He was nicknamed “Meatball 210” because at one point he had snagged a bag of Costco meatballs from someone’s garage refrigerator in suburban Los Angeles.
The day he arrived in Alpine, Aug. 29, is now used as his birth date. Meatball once had his own email address and Twitter account. He still has a Facebook page at tinyurl.com/gmybqvw.
His likeness was featured on a float in the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade, and an illustrated book was written about him titled “The Story of Meatball 210 — The Hungry Bear,” by Jason Weeding.
At this year’s birthday party, held Aug. 25, visitors and members of the sanctuary sang “Happy Birthday” to the giant bear in his large, fenced-in living space, complete with shade areas, colorful toys and a swimming pool. One lucky patron fed Meatball the salmon through a safe drop-box area that shuttled the fish to his side of the fence.
There was a large “Happy Birthday, Meatball” cardboard box in red, white and green that looked like takeout from an Italian restaurant, complete with a giant faux meatball on top. Inside were the bear’s favorite snacks — fruit and lots of peanuts in the shell. Meatball shredded the box in short order to get to the treats.
Virginia Anderson of Point Loma, a volunteer at the sanctuary since 2005, brought the salmon. She was there with her daughter and grandchild, and she said that as a cancer survivor, she looks to Lions, Tigers & Bears as a sanctuary for herself as well as the animals.
Anderson said she tries to visit once a month and puts the bear food together. “Meatball is a notoriously spoiled rotten bear!” she said later, laughing.
Lions, Tigers & Bears is a nonprofit rescue sanctuary for unwanted and abused exotic cats and other animals. It currently has 10 bears, including Meatball, four lions, three bobcats, two tigers, a leopard and various other animals including peacocks.
Bobbi Brink, the sanctuary’s founder and chief executive, said the facility’s main goals are to provide a safe haven and to educate the public about the growing population of abandoned and unwanted exotic animals.
Brink was out of town last Thursday and missed Meatball’s party. The bear didn’t seem to mind.
Pearlman writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.