Researchers find black bear living in the Santa Monica Mountains

For those that hike in the Santa Monica Mountains, recent news reports this week from ABC News, CBS News, and the Los Angeles Times, are reporting the discovery of a Black Bear in the Santa Monica Mountains.

 

Biologists in Southern California believe they have found the only bear to currently live in the Santa Monica Mountains, according to the National Parks Service.  Biologists captured and radio-collared a 210-pound black bear in a natural area of the western Santa Monica Mountains, south of the U.S. Highway 101, on April 23, the National Parks Service announced on Wednesday.

The bear, dubbed "BB-12," is believed to be about 3 or 4 years old, biologists said. The nearest population of black bears is in the Santa Susana Mountains, about 50 miles north, according to the NPS.  Bears have occasionally been documented in the Simi Hills and in the Santa Monica Mountains but there is no evidence of a breeding population in either area, biologists said.

BB-12 has likely been living in the region for at least two years, Jeff Sikich, lead field biologist of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area's two-decade mountain lion study, said in a statement.