Getting Out Alive, Bearly : Neighborhood Rallies to Save the Life of Animal Captured After Roaming the Back Yards of Monrovia

All summer, residents of Norumbega Drive in Monrovia watched “Samson” roam the neighborhood, frolicking in their pools and spas, eating avocados from their trees and even hamming it up for video cameras--though they knew enough to keep their distance from the 400-pound California black bear.

On Monday, the neighborhood mobilized to plead for a “stay of execution” for their uninvited guest, who finally was captured by state game wardens over the weekend and was scheduled to be euthanized at 6 p.m.

Monrovia city officials and state Assemblyman Richard L. Mountjoy (R-Arcadia) called on the California Department of Fish and Game to relocate Samson to the remote wilderness instead. Monrovia Mayor Robert T. Bartlett wrote the official with the power to grant executive clemency--Gov. Pete Wilson--urging him to intervene and “stop this scheduled execution.”

It worked.

Wilson wrote to Fish and Game Director Boyd Gibbons urging him to explore “all reasonable alternatives” for the friendly--and toothless--animal. “This bear has captured the imagination of well-wishers throughout the state,” Wilson wrote.

Monday afternoon, Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Moore announced that the bear would not be destroyed and was being held at an undisclosed location for medical evaluation. But because Samson had made himself a little too much at home in a populated area--where he posed a threat to humans--his next destination will probably be some form of captivity, Moore said.

“I doubt very much they’re going to turn it loose,” he said.

Moore said the public outcry contributed to the decision not to destroy the bear, which had been spotted as recently as Friday night frolicking for two hours in the Norumbega Drive back yard of Bonnie Forte.

Forte said she did not bother Samson and the bear did not bother her. “He’s not endangering anyone’s life,” noted the resident of the foothill community, who was considering making “Save Samson” T-shirts.

“We’re asking for a stay of execution,” said Craig Bonholtzer, who founded the San Gabriel Mountains Bear and Wildlife Preservation Society after Azusa police shot and killed a bear that wandered onto residential streets on May 20.

“No one wants to see a repeat of the Azusa incident,” Bonholtzer said, adding that his group has the funds to cover the cost of relocating Samson.

Mountjoy, who has lived near the foothills for more than 30 years, said he has had his own back-yard encounters with bears, coyotes, raccoons and other animals.

“Don’t forget,” he said, “we moved into their country. They didn’t move into ours.”