An unexpected visitor broke into a Northern California zoo on Friday – and stayed to hang out with its fellow bears.
The visitor, a black bear, “was observed interacting” with the Eureka zoo’s three black bears through the fencing on their habitat, the zoo said.
“When I first heard about it, I thought, ‘Poor thing, it’s lonely,’” said Laura Montagna, public information officer for the Humboldt County city’s police department.
The Sequoia Park Zoo backs into wooded area that a wild bear has been known to frequent, Montagna said. Officials aren’t sure how it got in, but the zoo said on social media that it was “safely coached” through a service gate back into the woods.
“Overall, he was a very polite visitor,” the zoo said in its post. “He stayed on the boardwalk path, kept two feet on the ground and didn’t try to climb over the railings!”
(While the zoo used male pronouns when describing the bear, its sex was not ultimately determined, said Montangna, though a report said “it had female characteristics.”)
Employees spotted the bear Friday morning from the zoo’s Redwood Sky Walk and immediately contacted authorities, according to the zoo. A newer feature of the 117-year-old zoo, the sky walk rises 100 feet above the ground in a redwood forest that includes some towering old-growth trees.
The police got the bear call at 9:24 a.m. Friday, in time to clear traffic and a trail behind the zoo, and the bear left without incident before it opened at 10 a.m. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife took the lead in monitoring the bear, Montagna said.
“The wild bear did not appear aggressive,” the zoo said, noting that it didn’t enter any animal habitats or break any fences during the visit, though it did explore some “enrichment items,” or mentally stimulating toys that the zoo provides to its animals.
“Wild bears and other animals call Sequoia Park home,” the zoo said, referring to larger park in which it’s located, “and we remind our guests to responsibly live alongside them by observing wildlife from a distance.”