Black bear caught on camera wandering in San Rafael yard
Black bear caught on camera in San Rafael to homeowners surprise
There was a bit of a surprise for one homeowner in Marin County when a young black bear was spotted slowly walking right through her yard. The bear was seen in the Terra Linda area of San Rafael. The woman says her family has lived in the home for 40 years and that there has never been a bear sighting until early Tuesday morning.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - One homeowner in Marin County received a bit of a surprise early Tuesday morning when a young black bear was spotted slowly walking right through her yard.
The wild animal was seen in the Terra Linda area of San Rafael near the intersection of Las Gallinas and Las Colindas at 2 a.m.
Caitlin Estrella said her family has lived in the home for more than 40 years, and there has never been a bear sighting before this incident.
"I thought I was seeing things. I could not believe there was a bear," said Estrella, who caught the animal on camera. "It was crazy. Still in shock that it was in our yard. I can't believe we had a bear here."
Estrella said her 5-year-old daughter Mary had woken up, coincidentally telling mom she had a nightmare about a bear in their yard.
"Right when I'm telling her bears don't live around here, there's no bears here," Estrella said.
Just then, she received an alert on her phone that something had entered her property.
"You can see it walk over from the street from the main road, and it walked over to the side yard," Estrella said, referencing the video.
She pointed to her yard's strawberry plants and said the bear ate all the ripe fruits and left the green ones.
A little more than two weeks ago, viewers shared with KTVU a video of a bear seen in nearby Larkspur.
"It's very likely that it's the same bear," said Alison Hermance, director of communications with WildCare. WildCare is a nonprofit wild life hospital and nature education center.
She said the bear appears to be a young male.
"This is the time when the juveniles are kicked out by mom and told to go find their own territory," Hermance said.
While bear sightings are rare, the animals are native to Marin County. The WildCare director said their population has doubled since the 1980s, likely due to the protection of wildlife habitat.
"Let's encourage them to move along by making sure we don't have garbage available for him, easy food sources that will encourage him to move onto more wild habitat," Hermance said.
Since black bears are shy animals, experts advise making noises such as clapping and yelling to encourage them to move along, if spotted.
WildCare urges people to report sightings by calling 1-415-456-7283.
Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU, Instagram @AmberKTVU or Twitter @AmberKTVU.