EUREKA, CA \u2014 A wild black bear was found inside a century-old zoo in Northern California last week, where he was spotted interacting with three captive bears of the same species. <\/p>\n
An employee at the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka stumbled upon the wild bear on Friday morning, prompting the facility to deploy a “rapid response” to safely coax the bear back into the wild, according to a news release from the zoo.<\/p>\n
Officers from the Eureka Police Department were called to keep park-goers safe while a warden from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife worked with Zoo staff to handle the situation. <\/p>\n
The bear was spotted interacting with the zoo’s resident bears Tule, Ish\u016dng and Kunabulilh. During the bear’s visit, the zoo says it did not appear aggressive. And at no point did the bear enter any animal habitats, the zoo said.<\/p>\n
A black bear was spotted after he broke into a historic zoo in Northern California last week. (Sequoia Park Zoo)
The black bear was described as a “polite visitor” that came to visit three captive bears of the same species. (Sequoia Park Zoo) <\/p>\n
\u201cOur three bears are very distinctive in appearance, and I recognized right away that it was not one of ours,\u201d says Christine Noel, Education Curation and Redwood Sky Walk inspector who made the initial observation. \u201cOverall, he was a very polite visitor. He stayed on the boardwalk path and didn\u2019t try to climb over the railings.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the bear briefly explored enrichment items around the night house, the animal was safely lured back into the woods through a service gate. <\/p>\n