Car Hits and Kills Black Bear Near Piru

A 300-pound black bear--the 12th officially sighted in a populated portion of Ventura County this year--was killed early Tuesday when it wandered onto California 126 near Piru and was hit by a car.

The Ventura County Department of Animal Regulation usually receives three or four bear sighting calls a year, but seven months of drought conditions have forced more bears and other wildlife into populated areas in search of food and water, said Director Kathy Jenks.

“The longer the drought lasts, the more we’ll see,” she said. “As the drought continues, bears will be coming farther and farther out. They’re coming down early for something to eat.”

The bear may have been foraging in avocado and citrus orchards in the rural area when it walked onto the highway near Camulos Ranch, said Lt. Chris Long of the state Department of Fish and Game.

“There’s always a heavy concentration of bears near avocado orchards,” he said.

Bear sightings have occurred this year throughout Southern California, as they do every year.

“It seems to be expanding this year,” Long said. “It could be an increase in population. It could be related to the drought. And burns might affect it.”

A major brush fire in June, for example, scorched more than 22,000 acres above Ojai and imperiled endangered plants and animals in the Sespe Wilderness.

On Aug. 10, another large black bear was spotted by Saticoy residents in the middle of the night near an elementary school. Animal control officers chased the bear until they were able to shoot it with a tranquilizer gun. The animal was later returned to the wild.

Four days earlier, a mother bear and her cub died in a house fire that started while they were foraging for food in a home near the San Bernardino National Forest.

Black bears rarely attack humans.

As for Tuesday’s accident, the Ford Escort involved in the 5 a.m. crash had to be towed away, but the driver was not injured, said a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. No other injuries were reported.

Long said it is not uncommon for vehicles to collide with bears on deserted highways but added that the species, a popular big-game animal for hunters, is not in danger of extinction.