Black Bear Found In Parking Lot Of Pomona Metrolink Station
POMONA (CBSLA.com) — A bear was tranquilized and taken away by state Fish and Game officials Thursday after it was found wandering the parking lot of the Metrolink station in Pomona.
The bear was first spotted roaming the area around the Fairplex in Pomona fairgrounds near McKinley and Paige Drive at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. It was later found in a parking lot alongside the Metrolink train tracks.
Information about the bear and where it came from has not yet been released by California Fish & Game, but it may have originated from the Angeles National Forest, which is less than 10 miles to the north.
That distance, however, traverses the 210 Freeway and plenty of urban real estate.
The sleeping bear, which appeared to be an adult, was loaded in a Fish and Game truck to be taken back to the forest.
But before he was tranquilized the active bear encountered more than his share of humans.
KCAL 9's Andrea Fujii spoke to people who thought the bear was a little too up close and personal.
When Traci Lowe went on her morning walk, she wasn't expecting to have an encounter with wild kingdom.
"Just as I saw the bear," she said, "he turned around and looked at me and chased me and my dog."
Traci didn't want her face on camera, but she said she was leaving the Copacabana Mobile Home Park when the bear chased her back inside.
Running as fast as she could, Traci ran through the park with the bear in quick pursuit. She said a Pomona officer saved the day.
"This cop came around the corner and he just cut the bear off and it slowed down and then he yelled at me to get in the house," she said.
Lowe believes without the officer she would have been in danger.
"If there was no police around, I would have been attacked without a doubt," she said.