Glendale Bear joins Twitter, but is a no-show on trash day

Glendale’s now-famous hungry bear has confirmed his love of Costco meatballs, apologized for a bad hair day, and pushed back at journalists for “gross misrepresentations” after taking to Twitter earlier this week.

He also apparently has a name: Glen Bearian.

“Please don’t be afraid of me,” Bearian tweeted Tuesday. “I wont eat you. Unless you’re a meatball from Costco. Are you?”

In between eating, it seems the Glendale Bear is also finding time to listen to music. In one tweet, he riffed on the lyrics to “Blackbird” by the Beatles: “Black bear eating in the dead of night. Take these oranges off of the tree. All your life. You were only waiting for this moment to be free.”

Almost a month after the bear was first discovered in a resident’s garage rummaging through a refrigerator for a late-night snack, the bear entered the social media world in the run-up to Thursday’s trash pick-up in the area where he has been spotted -- near the Verdugo Mountains.

The bear has returned every Thursday for three weeks, apparently aware when food is available. Along the way, he’s grabbed meatballs, tuna, an orange off a tree and various other treats before scampering back to his natural habitat.

Residents have expressed some concern over the 250-pound black bear, but California Department of Fish and Game officials say they cannot take action it until it poses an “imminent threat to public safety.”

Fish and Game spokesman Kevin Brennan told The Times “the problem begins at the trash can.”

“As long as there’s unsecured garbage out, the bear will continue to return,” Brennan said. “If you don’t want the bear coming back to your house, don’t leave garbage out, or put it in a bear-proof container.”

A Glendale police spokesman said there was no record of the bear returning to the area Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

It was unclear if the bear was suffering from a food coma.

Read more >>>
-- Matt Stevens, Los Angeles Times

Twitter: @mattstevenslat