zoo\u2019s Facebook post<\/a>. <\/p>\n\u201cThe wild bear did not appear aggressive and was observed interacting with Tule, Ish\u016dng, and Kunabulilh through their habitat fencing,\u201d the post said. <\/p>\n
The Eureka Police Department got a call about the curious visitor around 9:30 a.m. and responded to the zoo along with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. <\/p>\n
Directly behind the zoo is the wooded area of Eureka\u2019s 60-acre Sequoia Park, and that\u2019s where the bear is believed to have come from, said Laura Montagna, public information officer for the Police Department. <\/p>\n
But how the wild bear entered the zoo is a mystery. Officials said the perimeter fencing that separates the facility from the park was intact and secure.<\/p>\n
Montagna said Fish and Wildlife took the lead on escorting the bear out of the zoo and back into the woods. The police officers ensured that no human visitors were nearby, \u201cso that the bear wouldn\u2019t get scared,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
During the wild bear\u2019s visit, the Sequoia Park Zoo said, it didn\u2019t enter any animal habitats and after a \u201cbrief exploration of the enrichment items\u201d \u2014 objects that provide mental or physical stimulation for animals \u2014 \u201cthe bear was safely coaxed back into the woods through a service gate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, he was a very polite visitor. He stayed on the boardwalk path, kept two feet on the ground and didn\u2019t try to climb over the railings,\u201d the zoo said on Facebook. <\/p>\n
There have been reports of several bears in the Eureka area in the last year and a half, she said.<\/p>\n
The most recent sighting occurred last month when residents noticed a bear, possibly female, that Montagna said could have been the zoo visitor that she believes is just lonely. <\/p>\n
The wild bear\u2019s visit has sparked playful commentary from Facebook users including Priscilla Lange who said, \u201c[The bear] was a very considerate guest. Some of your human visitors could probably take some lessons in behavior from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facebook user David Wickizer joked the bear was \u201clooking for an application. … He wanted to be an ambearssador!\u201d<\/p>\n
Zoo officials struck a cautionary note: \u201cWild bears and other animals call Sequoia Park home, and we remind our guests to responsibly live alongside them by observing wildlife from a distance, staying on marked trails and always being aware of your surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wild, very \u201cpolite\u201d and possibly lonely black bear recently paid a visit to its neighbors at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,13477,13472,13475,13478,13480,13479,10801,10693,13481,13476,7109,2176,13474,7662,13473],"class_list":["post-15683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-zoo","tag-captive-bear","tag-eureka","tag-eureka-police-department","tag-facebook-post","tag-facebook-user","tag-fish","tag-habitat","tag-human-visitor","tag-laura-montagna","tag-sequoia-park-zoo","tag-visit","tag-wild-bear-break","tag-wildlife","tag-zoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}