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[Update: Thu., Apr. 17, 9:33am] Around 6:30 a.m. this Thursday, UCSB sent an emergency notification about a bear seen on campus near the Intercollegiate Athletics Gym and Pollock Theater off Ocean Road. UCPD asked people to avoid this area. Around 7 a.m., UCPD lifted the request to avoid the area, but asked people to stay aware as they have not yet located the bear.
In a statement to the Independent, UCSB said that students and community members should call UCPD if they encounter the bear. The California State Parks and California Department of Fish and Wildlife say that if you do encounter a bear, make yourself seem large, wave your arms, yell and make loud noises, and do not run.
[Original Story] A black bear found its way to the Santa Ynez Student Apartment complex in Isla Vista on Wednesday morning. An image posted on the social media site Reddit shows the bear on its hind legs grasping a tree near the center of the complex.
UCPD responded to calls about the unexpected visitor. Currently, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is monitoring the bear. The ideal situation, the department said, is for the bear to wander home by itself, but the department said it is prepared to intervene if necessary.
This is not the first bear sighting of the week. A video from this Tuesday shows a black bear exploring a front porch early Tuesday morning in Goleta, as reported on KEYT. In the video, the bear approaches the door before turning and trundling away as dogs bark.
There are about 30,000 black bears in California, according to Los Padres ForestWatch. Most of those bears live north of Santa Barbara County, but Los Padres Forest continues to support a population.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that urban bear sightings are more common in the spring; although bears this far south don’t generally hibernate, their appetite can ramp up in spring. Bears are often searching for food with their powerful noses. Fish and Wildlife asks people to keep their trash and pets indoors.
