Mother bear and cub pursued by coyotes return to hunker down in La Cañada canyon
Animal Control officers and Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies are monitoring a narrow canyon at the 4900 block of Terracita Lane, where a mother bear and her cub returned this week after being threatened by coyotes there Friday morning.
News helicopters hovered over the area between Alta Canyada Road and Hillard Avenue Monday evening after the sheriff’s station posted a message on Twitter saying the two bears had returned. The message included photos of both bears resting in trees.
Watch Commander Lt. Mark Slater said deputies were advised by the California Fish and Wildlife Department not to disturb the mom and cub, unless they exhibited obvious signs of aggression.
“We called Fish and (Wildlife), they assessed the situation and decided they were going to take no action, so we backed off,” Slater said.
The two bears were first spotted on June 2 by area residents who had been alerted to the scene by a deep, sustained groaning noise outside.
“It was the most absurd sound you ever heard,” Diane Farr, who lives near the juncture of Alta Canyada and Louise Drive, said after the sighting on Friday. “It was moaning and guttural.”
Behind Farr’s house, situated over a steep canyon separating Alta Canyada Road from Terracita Lane, a very thin female bear was trying to fend off two coyotes from approaching a very small bear cub.
The cub, she added, was so small its gait appeared to be more like a series of hops than actual walking.
“With the coyotes circling the cub, there was no way she could move — she was just trapped in there,” Farr said of the mother bear. “All she could do was keep the coyotes back.”
Farr’s neighbor called the sheriff’s station while she and others attempted to ward off the coyotes with garden hoses and small rocks. Deputies arrived on scene and were able to re-direct the bear and her cub to a wider part of the canyon that provided egress.
On Monday, residents called the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station when it appeared the mom and cub had returned. Following the advice of Fish and Wildlife officials, deputies decided to leave the pair in peace.
California Fish and Wildlife Department spokesman Andrew Hughan said Monday that bears generally return to residential areas looking for an easy food source. Often, they return because people leave out food and water for them, a practice that can actually expose bears to the increased risks of human interaction.
“Not only is feeding wildlife illegal, it’s dangerous,” Hughan said. “A fed bear is a dead bear.”
Twitter: @SaraCardine
UPDATES:
12:40 p.m.: This article was updated when the mother bear and her cub were spotted again in La Cañada and following an interview with a California Fish and Wildlife official.
This article was originally published Friday, June 2 at 2:25 p.m.
