MONROVIA, Calif. (KABC) — People in Monrovia joined together for a community walk on Saturday to honor a bear with two young cubs that was euthanized by wildlife officials this week.
Authorities say the bear clawed a woman who was walking her dog and was deemed a public safety threat by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Now, community members are calling for policy change.
With signs in hand, honoring the Monrovia bear known affectionately as Blondie, more than 100 people showed up to remember the mama bear with two young cubs. The walk began at 9 a.m. Saturday at Monrovia Library Park.
“I think it’s unfortunate and I think it’s a tragedy,” said Monrovia neighbor Mike Janesin.
“Blondie didn’t need to be euthanized,” community walk participant Emily Wu Troung said.
A week ago on Saturday, a woman was out walking her dog on Oakglade Drive when Monrovia police say Blondie the bear approached the woman and clawed the back of her knee. The woman and her dog got away, and the woman was taken to a hospital for treatment.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Woman escapes after bear swipes claw in Monrovia, leaving minor injuries
Hours after a woman was clawed by a bear in the Monrovia foothills, two bears were seen making themselves at home under a nearby house.
The next day, Blondie and her two cubs were captured. Bear DNA collected from last Saturday’s incident matched Bear DNA collected from another incident where a man was clawed last June. Ultimately, state wildlife officials deemed the mama bear a threat to the community and decided to euthanize her, despite efforts from the community to prevent that outcome, including more than 3,800 people who signed a petition seeking to spare the bear’s life.
“I still think there might have been other options available if they took more time to really think about it and understand the situation that she has two cubs,” Janesin said.
“I am sorry to share the unfortunate news,” Dylan Feik, the Monrovia city manager, wrote in a statement after Blondie’s euthanasia. “The Monrovia City Council requested and lobbied for the bear and her cubs to be relocated into the Angeles National Forest but the decision was never the City’s to make. By the time we were able to speak with state officials involved in the decision-making, the decision to euthanize was already made.”
The city says the two cubs are healthy and will be relocated to a facility before eventually being reintroduced into the wild.
SEE ALSO: Monrovia bear euthanized after clawing at woman walking her dog
The city of Monrovia says a female bear that took a swipe at a woman over the weekend has been euthanized. DNA revealed this wasn’t the bear’s first attack.
On Saturday, people from all over Southern California came together for a two-mile walk, symbolizing the two cubs Blondie left behind.
“I think it’s important as people to not just not do anything, but to come and memorialize this bear,” said Elizabeth Weisberg, who came to the walk from Redlands.
Now, the tight-knit community is calling on their local and state leaders to help make policy changes to better protect all bears, and on their neighbors to keep educating themselves.
“We need to learn how to co-exist with them, to cohabitate with them, so that they don’t get killed,” Wu Troung said.
“We need to do more than only walk today. We need to change how we get rid of our trash. We need to have community conversations about human-bear interactions so that this doesn’t happen again,” Jacqui Malouf from Monrovia said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the CDFW issued a statement that defended its decision to put the bear down.
“Anytime there is human-wildlife conflict, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s foremost responsibility is the protection of human life and ensuring public safety,” the statement read. “With that priority in mind, the black bear responsible for the March 14 attack on a resident in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, has been determined by CDFW law enforcement officers to be a public safety… (threat).
The decision to terminate the bear followed “thorough assessment of the bear’s behavior and the circumstances of the incident,” according to state wildlife officials, who said killing an animal “is used only as a last resort when an animal poses a risk to public safety and cannot be safely returned to the wild.”
The CDFW says the sad outcome and others like it “underscore the importance of prevention.”
“Bears are highly adaptable and will seek out food and shelter when opportunities are present,” officials said. “Securing crawl spaces, removing food attractants such as unsecured trash or pet food and eliminating access to sheltered areas around homes are critical steps residents must take to reduce the likelihood of conflict and habituation. These actions help keep both people and wildlife safe and bears wild.”
The statement went on to say that mother bears teach their foraging methods to cubs, who can learn to associate people and homes with food, creating potentially dangerous encounters.
“Relocation may seem like a solution, but is not an option when it could put public safety at risk. Bears have strong spatial memory and often return to familiar areas,” the wildlife department said. “When translocated long distances, they recreate the same conflict behavior or struggle to survive in unfamiliar habitat. Without humans taking steps to reduce attractants and access to urbanized shelter, the underlying issue remains.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
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