Bear spotted roaming through Castaic neighborhood

Bear swims, climbs trees in Castaic

SkyFOX captured the dramatic moments of a wild bear cub swimming long distances and climbing multiple trees.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A bear caused havoc Monday after it was spotted roaming through Castaic all day.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife were first made aware of the bear around 8 a.m. They say it was wandering near homes on Lake Hughes Road.

Bear roams Castaic neighborhood, sleeps in tree

A bear was spotted roaming a neighborhood in Castaic. Workers tried to tranquilize the animal but were unsuccessful.

Bear walks in and out of storm drain

A bear at Castaic Lake kept walking in and out of a storm drain.

According to Fish and Wildlife, the bear is an adult male likely between 150 and 175 pounds. It was up a tree for most of the day.

"Our original plan was to put a trap at the bottom of that tree and bait it. And then hope that when the bear came down, it would be attracted to that trap, go inside. And then we would be able to take that bear to what we call the nearest suitable habitat. So the bear came down the tree, we made an attempt to dart it. It did not work it. We didn't hit the bear either," said Tim Daly with Fish and Wildlife.

The bear then went up a second tree and found a bee's nest. He then came down again and went running.

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(SkyFOX)

The bear then made its way to Castaic Lake.

Images from SkyFOX showed glimpses of the bear hiding behind a storm drain near the lake.

The shy bear exited the storm drain but went back inside shortly after walking around. A few minutes later, the bear exited the drain again and walked around the trees.

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Eventually, he ran towards the building and parking lot on the lake front. Officials surrounded the area, in hopes of capturing the bear. Around 3:30 p.m., SkyFOX lost sight of the bear as it appeared to be hiding in the bushes.

At some point, the bear made its way to the top of a tree and stayed there for over an hour.

Bear goes for swim in Castaic Lake

After spending more than an hour in a tree, a bear loose in a Castaic neighborhood got down and jumped into the lake.

Around 5:30 p.m., SkyFOX caught the bear swimming in the lake.

Daly says they do not plan to tranquilize the bear as there is no threat to public safety.

Black Bear roams around Castaic Lake

Tim Daly with the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife talks about the bear that was spotted Monday in Castaic.

"Our goal in these situations is to sort of gently nudge or push a bear back to an appropriate habitat."

Daly said California only has Black Bears.

On Tuesday, officials said there were no new reports of the bear being sighted in the area.

"Our folks left the scene last night when it became too dark to still see the bear. We're hoping that it came down when things got quiet and made its way back to [its] habitat."

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