Bear Spotted Hanging Out In Santa Clarita Tree

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA) — Spring is upon Southern California, so bear sightings are rather common at this time of year – but not in Santa Clarita.

A black bear was spotted hanging out high in a tree in a Santa Clarita neighborhood overnight, drawing neighbors and their cell phone cameras.

It's rather unusual to see bears in Santa Clarita – the city includes miles of housing tracts, hemmed in by the 5 Freeway and the 14 Freeway.

"It's pretty strange in this neighborhood, not really a lot of bears," resident Anne Marie Giampa said. "We didn't even know bears really were around this neighborhood until right now."

The bear eventually climbed down the tree and ran away.

Tuesday night's sighting wasn't even the first in the Santa Clarita area recently – another bear was caught on video near Stevenson Ranch Elementary School on Sunday, after two other sightings in the same area and in Valencia.

Officials say it's not clear if it's the same bear wandering around this week, but anyone who sees it should not approach it, and should just back away slowly.

Bear sightings are much more frequent in the San Gabriel Valley's foothill communities, like Arcadia, where a bear was caught on a security camera going through trash cans along Anita Crest Drive at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The bear appeared to have a Fish and Wildlife tag on its ear, so it's not the first time it has wandered out of the woods.