Bear Tranquilized After Wandering In Monrovia Neighborhood

MONROVIA, CA — Authorities tranquilized a bear in Monrovia Friday that was wandering in a neighborhood for two days in a row.

The bear was spotted before dawn going through garbage cans in an alley off Hillcrest Boulevard, near Mayflower Avenue, and police were sent to monitor its behavior.

Animal control personnel tranquilized the animal around 8 a.m., and prepared to remove it from the neighborhood.

The Monrovia Police Department tweeted the first bear sighting was reported Thursday morning on the Mayflower Elementary School campus but it left before officials could arrive.

Bears in Monrovia are fairly common – there are even Samson the Bear statues scattered around town. The statues are in honor of a "particularly bold" 500-pound California black bear residents would see around town grabbing a bite to eat from a trash can or a fruit tree, according to the City of Monrovia. But Samson's fame didn't really come from his food rummaging skills, it came for his love of relaxing in hot tubs after a long day of rummaging for food.

Samson became sick and was set to be euthanized in 1994, but the news spread so quickly and people were so upset by it, the Department of Fish and Wildlife decided not to euthanize him. He lived out the remainder of his life at the Orange County Zoo, according to the City of Monrovia.

Related: Bears Without A Care: Photos Of Monrovia's Cutest Cubs - Patch

City News Service contributed to this post