Arboretum in Arcadia evacuated after mama bear and 2 cubs wander in

Students on a field trip and other guests at the Arboretum in Arcadia were evacuated after a mother bear and two cubs dropped by for a visit on Friday, Nov.4.

No one was injured, said Deputy Maria Lucero, a sheriff’s spokeswoman. “Everybody is safe,” she added.

A staffer at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden called the Sheriff’s Parks Bureau at 10:19 a.m. and said a bear and two cubs had been seen there, according to Lucero.

Cheryl Flanagan, a special ed assistant at Marvin Avenue School in Mid City, was on a field trip with her students at the Arboretum, at 301 N. Baldwin Ave. But their visit was cut short.

“We were just taking our walk around the park here and the workers stopped us from going ahead because there were three bears,” she told a videographer with RMG news. “There was a mama bear and two baby bears. And they were kinda just running around freely. They were trying to catch them.”

She was able to take a photo of what she thinks is the mother bear. “And after that, they told us we had to leave,” Flanagan said.

The Arboretum is a wildlife sanctuary, but apparently bears are not frequent visitors.

“In my experience, I’ve never encountered or seen a bear on site so I would think it’s relatively new,” Nancy Yoshihara, communications director for the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation, said in a video interview with RMG News. “Typically the bears are seen further north up in Sierra Madre, upper Arcadia as well as Monrovia. But I can see why the bears are attracted here.”

She said the bears were up in a hilly area of the garden.

“We have the necessary officials here that take care of issues that involve wildlife, and the garden for now has been emptied until the bears are safely relocated to wherever they decide to take them,” Yoshihara said

As of the Friday afternoon, Deputy Lucero said the bears were up in a tree. Sheriff’s officials notified the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.