Bear Pays Visit to Pasadena’s Oak Knoll Neighborhood

A bear caused a stir on Pasadena’s Oak Knoll neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon before returning to wilderness areas, authorities said.

City officials posted a photo of the animal via social media, but declined to provide the time and place of the incident, citing local residents’ desire for “privacy,” city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.

Electronic dispatch logs indicated the Pasadena Fire Department responded to the 600 block of Woodland Road for an “animal rescue” late Wednesday afternoon, where a local resident said the bear had been seen loitering since the morning.

Firefighters assistant California Department of Fish & Wildlife officials at the scene, Derderian said.

The animal was “safely returned” to the foothills, well over five miles to the north, she added. No further details were released.

It was not clear how the bear got into the affluent neighborhood, which is situated well south of the 210 Freeway.