State Officials Seeking Permanent Home for Back Yard-Hopping Bear

Samson the bear is in Sacramento and Monrovia is breathing easier.

The 400-pound, pool-dipping black bear was transported Tuesday to a Department of Fish and Game wildlife laboratory where he will undergo medical examinations, eat dog food and fruit and undoubtedly play with the water trough in a 20- by 30-foot cage until the state can find a permanent home for him.

The approximately 9-year-old bear, who spent the summer lumbering into back yards in a rustic Monrovia neighborhood and cooling off in residents’ swimming pools, was trapped Sunday morning. State wildlife officials at first planned to kill him Monday evening, but his Monrovia hosts, who had not been particularly bothered by the bear’s wanderings, raised an outcry.

Samson, as he had been nicknamed, then won a stay of execution from Gov. Pete Wilson hours before his date with death. He had been held at an undisclosed location in Ventura County since his capture on Sunday.

Bill Clark, coordinator for the Wildlife Investigations Laboratory in Sacramento, which Samson will call home for the time being, said the lab is the only Department of Fish and Game facility that is adequate for the animal. The bear will receive around-the-clock care and will stay there until a permanent residence can be found.

“Today, I’ve been on the phone trying to find places that would be interested in taking an old, used-to-people bear,” Clark said.

One offer came quickly from Martine Colette, founder and director of the 160-acre Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon--a locale that would keep Samson in a foothill habitat.

He traveled approximately 450 miles to the state capital in a bear trap that is 40 inches wide and 8 feet long, with holes for ventilation, Clark said. The bear was accompanied by a wildlife veterinarian who stopped every hour to spray him with water and give him drinks, he said.