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Two black bears spotted in Santa Margarita

June 13, 2017

A black bear was spotted Monday evening munching on cat food on the front porch of a home in rural Santa Margarita.

On Tuesday morning, the bear was lounging under a tree as children left for school. Shortly before noon, the bear climbed on top of a truck and appeared unfazed when the owner approached the vehicle.

Following a call to The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, officer Teri Hickey arrived at the home and shot several bean bags rounds at the bear. Though the bear at first appeared to be unfazed, it then sauntered up a hillside. Hickey estimated the bear to be a 3 to 4 year old male.

Smaller black bear looking in a window of a home in Santa Margarita

About a mile away, a smaller black bear had set up residence at another home with pet food on the porch. For about a week, the family attempted to scare off the small black bear. Over the weekend, the family started bringing in pet food before evening and making sure dumpsters were secured.

Department of Fish and Wildlife Lieutenant Todd Tognazzini provided several suggestions for dealing with black bears, which rarely attack humans.

Do not leave pet food outside.

Make sure your trash is secured.

If the bear continues to be a nuisance, a shot of bear spray, available online, will usually drive the bear away.

Tognazzini is not aware of any known bear attacks in San Luis Obispo County.


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In Santa Margarita all you hear is sure honey, yes honey and whatever you say honey. This has caught their attention, Bear love honey too.


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A couple of decades ago a black bear visited a Paso Robles neighborhood where local children fed him cookies. The bear then climbed a tree where he took a nap, sated by the recently ingested cookie feast. Officials then sedated him by shooting him with a medicated dart. They broke his fall with a tarp. He was taken away to a mountain habitat but he kept returning to town. He eventually had to be put down.


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They were just looking for a picanik basket…right Boo Boo?


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The bears were actually process servers in bear costumes.


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No wonder we have teddy bears….he is so darn cute!


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Please don’t ever confuse a “cute” appearance with a friendly personality in any wild animal. Both people and animals get killed when that happens. I lived near Yellowstone as a teenager and the horror stories of human interaction with bears that came out of there at least once a year are not suitable for describing here. It was almost always tourists unfamiliar with the meaning of the word “wild” that got hurt.


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There are similar stories for buffalo, elk, moose, deer and on down to chipmunks. In fact the only large animal which I never heard of directly attacking people there was the wolf.


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If the intent is to kill the bear needlessly yea.

Grow up.


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What beary beautiful creatures. Glad no one was hurt. Glad no bears were injured too.


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A fed bear is a dead bear. Really, folks, if you live in bear country, wake up. Don’t feed your dog outside. Bring it in for food, then shoo it back out if you don’t want it in the house. These people were probably doing the reverse — putting dog food out and letting dog sit around in house — had it been out it might have barked a bear away.


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A shot of 30-06 will be more effective.


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PCL-R for you.


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Funny, had to look that up.


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