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Black bear kills chickens in San Luis Obispo

June 15, 2011

A 500-pound black bear broke into a chicken coop at the 1800 block of San Luis Drive in San Luis Obispo early Wednesday morning and began killing chickens.

Police fired pepper balls at the bear in order to drive it out of the neighborhood and back into the mountain range on the north side of San Luis Obispo.

In 2010, a black bear regularly visited the same neighborhood. The California Department of Fish and Game hired professional trappers to capture the bear. They were unsuccessful.

As a precaution, state officials are warning people in the area to store their trash in bear proof containers, keep pet food indoors, remove bird feeders and to put electric fences around fruit and nut trees.


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Wait a second….


Aren’t these the same people that screamed to forbid CalDFG to allow the Bear Hunting Season in SLO County?


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So the people that live off of San Luis Drive were screaming to forbid bear hunting?


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What ever happened to that bear proof fencing Caltrans was putting up along highway 101, from Cuesta Grade to the town of Santa Margarita? They never finished it and it stops by the water pumping station, so now it only serves to funnel the bear down into the town…


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I called Caltrans and spoke to them about why the “bear proof fence” hasn’t been completed. They claim the CCCs have been pulled off to do other work and won’t be back until July sometime…


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Pepper Ball Spiced Chicken, Once youv’e had some, you just gotta keep coming back.

And you will be hungry again in half an hour.


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Never keep chickens without a guard dog. Preferably one that has never tasted chicken! ;-)


This guy (the bear) is getting bold! Aren’t most bear traps outlawed? Heck, I don’t think one is allowed to do ANYTHING to a bear w/o Big Brother coming down on them…


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That’s not true. Bear traps are used all the time. Every time I’ve camped in Yosemite I’ve seen bear traps used. If they don’t trap this bear and relocate him then he’ll be back. Before we know it he’ll tell his friends and they’ll be bear parties in that area. They need to send Yogi packing.


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I never saw a bear TRAP in Yosemite. They have those “shotgun drums” and paintball guns. That’s about it. What trap(s) have you seen there?


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The last time I was there a trap was placed in the campsite next to ours in the Lower Pines Campground after a bear bent the door on a car like it was play-dough to get into a a visible ice chest. Apparently the ice chest was full of beer (bet there was a big bear party that night). It was a large round metal cylinder on wheels that they lured the bear into to the following night. They did catch him and relocated him but unfortunately in Yosemite there are hundreds of bears to replace him. I don’t know what a ‘shotgun drum’ is. Maybe that’s what I call a trap. I certainly didn’t mean those mid-evil things that pinch their legs between steel claws.


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Eons ago, my college roomie & I hiked up to Half Dome. The first night we camped in the valley & the second night we slept at the base of the Dome. There were twenty or thirty of us in tents & in sleeping bags, camping under the stars. My friend & I wondered why the other campers had their packs strung up in trees w/ropes. What a lot of extra work! We just used our backpacks as pillows. Inside was food, lotion and other bear-enticing stuff. Boy, were we DUMB! Thankfully we woke up safe & sound and didn’t get mauled by any bears. Obviously, we later learned how stupid we were and now we always use bear-safe containers in Yosemite. :)


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@pasoparent,,you were very very lucky. I’ve been backpacking and camping around the Sierras for a long time and I’ve never seen so many bears as I’ve seen at Yosemite. I’ve never had a trip to Yosemite without seeing at least 1 bear and usually more. Many times stringing your packs in trees dosen’t work, those Yosemite bears are really smart, I’ve seen them get them down from the trees. Bear lockers are the only sure way to keep you stuff safe.


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Yep! I heartily agree, typo. I’d like to think I’m older and wiser now (that can be debated, I know ;0 ) On every Yosemite trip afterwards, we would see 1-2 parked cars that had been smashed in by hungry bears. Apparently people had left their ice chests & food items in full view & those bears just tore up the windshields & side windows to get inside. I agree that the lockers are the only way to go.


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San Luis Obispo County is one of the only counties in California with a significant Bear population that doesn’t allow Bear Management through a hunting program which was recently recommended by CalDFG Staff Biologists.


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Bob, you are 100% correct.This has been proposed twice in the last few years but voted down each time.

The black bears are not native to SLO county, but originated in the Sierras. The top predator was the grizzly bear and the last one was killed in the southern Sierras in the late 1920’s and ever since the black bear has migrated further south along the mountains into SLO county. The numbers are growing along with the human population into the rural areas of this county. Sightings are frequent and only going to be more so, better get used to it…


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