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A 200-lb brown bear has been eluding authorities in Oxnard since the wee hours of this morning after he was "first spotted about 2:20 a.m. in the parking lot of a fire station on Vineyard Avenue," reports the Ventura County Star.
From there the bear moved a block away, and then ran through a series of apartment complexes, leading the police on a one-hour chase. Finally he decided to take things to another level: He climbed a tree near the Santa Clara Cemetery. By 4:30 a.m. officials from the department of Fish and Game were on scene, and eventually "shot the bear with tranquilizer darts."
As the bear drifts further into sleep, authorities await an opportunity to get him down safely from his unusual perch.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: "The bear is brown in color and officers estimated its weight at about 200 pounds," notes Sgt. Ron Whitney of the Oxnard police.
