San Gabriel Valley : Young Animal Keeps Losing Its Bearings

The young bear did what any teen-ager would do after a night out on the town--it crashed. Unfortunately, the little bear fell asleep where it shouldn’t have--in a big tree in La Canada Flintridge for the third time in two weeks.

Last week, in the latest incident, state Department of Fish and Game wardens used tranquilizing darts to hit the wayward animal, which fell 80 feet onto air cushions. Sort of a state “spanking,” to discourage the bear from coming back, said Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Moore.

Then wardens loaded the bear into a truck and drove it home to the Angeles National Forest. Moore is unsure whether the bear is a boy or girl but says it’s about a year old--the equivalent of a teen-ager--and weighs a trim 60 pounds.

The bear is not threatening anybody or damaging property, so it will not be killed, Moore said. Wardens cannot figure out why it keeps wandering into the city. No one has spotted it pawing through garbage or stealing fruit from trees, he said, but there’s certainly more to the picturesque foothill community than that. . . .