ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) — A bear got too close for comfort in an Oro Valley neighborhood. The bear prompted a school to take extra steps to protect students there. Lately bears have been turning up in some unexpected places.
Living with the natural world is part of the appeal of living in Arizona but sometimes that natural world can come a little too close.
Painted Sky Elementary went into shelter in place mode to keep children indoors with a bear roaming outdoors.
Oro Valley Police say someone was on the trail in Wildlife Ridge Park when they saw a young bear and got themselves away from that animal.
A few hours later we met Ed Del Valle cautiously walking his Chihuahua named Shaky.
“I got a phone call from my neighbor, 5:30-ish in the morning. She saw the bear. She was walking her dog, and she called me because I usually take her out for a walk at around six. And she was like, ‘Don't take your dog out, because there's a bear’. I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me. What do you mean a bear?’ She said, ‘Yep, I saw it. It was scary. I turned right back and came back home.’“
Lately nature lovers have been seeing nature come to them. Here’s a young bear striking a pose, and enjoying a pool near Sunrise and Sabino Canyon.
A bear was up in a tree near Broadway and Kolb, at least until Arizona Game and Fish hit him with a tranquilizer dart and Tucson Police helped him have a soft landing.
The bears are not just close to the mountains. These are bears in the ‘burbs sometimes a long way from where you’d expect them to be.
Most of these bears were young. Arizona Game and Fish says bears may roam looking for water, food or new territory —- in places that used to be their natural homes, that we have turned into our neighborhoods.
Often Game and Fish will trap the bears and move them where they won’t tangle with people.
Jason Judd was hoping for a picture of the Oro Valley bear—but with a powerful lens to keep a safe distance.
“Well, as most people know, bears could be pretty dangerous. So yeah, we're not, we're not here to disturb it or try to get close to it by any means. We just, we're hoping that maybe sight it from a distance.”
