The Department of Fish and Wildlife reported Tuesday that staff haven’t had another sighting of the California black bear that visited a tree outside a Castaic apartment complex Monday on Violin Canyon Road.
At the last sighting, the bear had scrambled up a tree near the southern tip of the Castaic Lake Recreation Area, according to Tim Daly, information officer for the South Coast and Inland Deserts regions of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“We have not heard any reports of any additional sightings,” Daly said, adding the agency was not staffed for an around-the-clock response, and the biologists there went home around 8:15 p.m. Monday after it became dark and difficult to see.
“We would like to think that as things quieted down out there, and as crowds thinned and it got dark, the bear was able to finally relax a little bit. We think it headed back into one of the nearby mountain areas,” Daly added. “That’s what we’re hopeful for.”
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies would likely be the first point of contact in a follow-up bear sighting, Daly said.
Deputies have not received any reported sightings since Monday night, according to SCV Sheriff’s Station Sgt. Johnny Gillespie, who confirmed around 3:15 p.m. that he’d been on the watch desk since 4 a.m.
“We don’t necessarily respond to every sighting,” Daly said. The agency wants to make sure the contact with the animal is sustained over a several-hour period, as opposed to a single 5 a.m. sighting, he gave as an example.
He also added that if there had been a follow-up sighting Tuesday, staff “would definitely be back out there, there just hasn’t been reason to. It’s been a nice, quiet day.”
