Bear Found in Residential Area Is Killed

A sheriff’s sergeant unable to scare away a 200-pound bear shot and killed the animal as it emerged from under a porch.

Several residents in the Phelan area reported seeing the bear wandering through the neighborhood Tuesday morning, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Deputies were following bear tracks through the desert when someone called to report the bear was hiding under a porch.

The bear came out from under the porch just as an animal control officer arrived, the statement said.

“Deputies’ efforts to scare the bear back under the porch were futile, and because of the possibility of the bear being ill and unpredictable in the residential environment, [a sergeant] shot and killed the bear as it came within 15 feet of the deputies,” the statement said.