Chris Nottoli is the Producing Artistic Director of Theater 150, in Ojai.
Late at night on Oct. 9th my fiance’ and I had the rare pleasure of watching a huge, healthy bear lumbering around in our backyard… It was powerful, visceral, and as close as I get to a spiritual moment. But it was also so very sad for us. With the Sheriff’s Dept. surrounding the property just two blocks from the arcade in Ojai, we knew that this would end badly. As a Sheriff followed the bear out of our yard and onto Aliso St., we hoped that he would find his way north and back into the hills. Instead, the frightened bear climbed a tree. Over the next 24 hours, we witnessed the unfolding of a drama that ended with the brutal, wasteful and inhumane death of a really beautiful creature.

Early on, because the bear chose our yard, I resolved to be an imperfect but available witness to what might happen. By midday, the streets were cordoned off. By 9:30pm, there were just a handful of us. I had my camera, my phone, the internet and a lawn chair parked in front of my house, 20 yards from the bear in the tree. I took photos and typed updates on my phone as fast as I could. At one point towards the end, a friend asked, “Why would you want to watch this?” “Someone needs to,” I said.
The exact actions Fish and Game took at the end are unclear. It was dark on the street, there was a truck between me and the folks with the weapons and I don’t know the difference between the sound of bullets, rubber bullets or tranquilizer darts. But I could see the bear clearly, lit up by numerous flashlights, red tranquilizer dart in his butt, slowly loose his grip and fall 40 or 50 feet from the tree to the ground, slamming through some branches and bouncing off others.
For many, the instinct will be to decide whose mistake this was, who should be punished and who should pay. But no amount of finger pointing, shaming or values debates is going fix this. This bear’s death is on all of us. Law enforcement takes their cues from us, the citizens. We make policy – through lobbying, voting, organizing and, yes, litigation – and we expect that Law enforcement will follow protocol until we change it. In this situation, everyone did their job satisfactorily.
This is what we now know: If the Police/Sheriffs are unable to get a bear to leave town of its own free will, they will call Fish and Game. Fish and Game will not relocate the bear. They’ll euthanize it. Because this was the written regulation, they had no choice but to dismiss every proposed alternative solution that was offered throughout the day.
We as a society agree on where to draw the lines: Specifically in this case, what is acceptable collateral damage for public safety. When that collateral damage is horrific however, we shake our fists at the ‘cops’ or each other in self-righteous anger. By doing so, we abdicate responsibility, alleviate the need to use our common sense and reinforce an unproductive “us vs. them” mentality. It’s someone else’s fault.
This is a rare moment. We all have a common interest. Everyone agrees that it should have ended better. The death of this bear can lead to a better outcome when the next one goes up a tree or a cougar gets caught in someone’s house.
Here’s what will help: Bring our various bits of expertise together to form better policy. There are other communities, rich and poor, conservative and progressive, who have practical solutions that we can borrow. It’s easy to bring the number of bear deaths like this down: Understand we live in a frontier zone and secure trash all over town, form a volunteer organization to support Fish and Game in animal rescue, treat wild animals like unpredictable wild animals, keep wild animals afraid of humans (i.e., scare the crap out of them every time you see one) and educate ourselves about bear biology and behavior. We can empower our law enforcement to save an animal’s life, while avoiding human injury. What’s going to be hard is keeping us all focused on the goal.
Here’s what will NOT help: Processing our emotions in public. Yelling at the city council and law enforcement or writing a congressperson to demand that someone else do the hard work of fixing what we all screwed up will derail positive change. I want us to get together, volunteer our time, role up our sleeves and fix the problem together. I want us to find a better process for removing wildlife from our city that’s cheaper, faster, safer and saves the animal’s life.
I’d like to get the community together for a meeting to discuss changes to law enforcement’s response to wild animals in Ojai. This would include the city council, Police/Sheriff’s Dept., Fish and Game and everyone in town upset by this incident and willing to walk their talk. When this meeting happens, I’ll be there and I hope you will be too.
Note:
This Editorial published in the Ojai Valley News, 10/13/2009. Posted here with permission of the author
Related article by Chris Nottoli
What I saw from the Aliso St. Bear Tragedy – A Timeline
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/what_i_saw_from_the_aliso_st_b.shtml
Resources and Related Articles About the Aliso Street Bear in Ojai
A discussion site has been set up at: http://rememberthebear.ning.com/
The Bear League: http://www.savebears.org/
Animal Rescue Team: http://www.animalrescueteam.net/
Department of Fish & Game Statewide Black Bear Policy 2071
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/bear/statewidepolicy.html_
Ojai Animal Rescue Unit Organizing (http://ovnblog.com/?p=1963)
Bear in Downtown Ojai Posted by Tyler Suchman
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/bear_in_downtown_ojai.shtml
Pet Psychic Bear Coverage, by Laura Stinchfield
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/pet_psychic_bear_coverage.shtml
Public liability. The bear’s death warrant? Posted by Suza Francina
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/the_bears_death_warrant_public_1.shtml
Bear’s Death Deserves a Constructive Community Response,
by Robert Peake
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/bears_death_deserves_a_constru.shtml
More Ojai Residents Speak Out About the Killing of the Aliso Street Bear
Part One in a series on the Ojai Community’s response to a killing of a black bear in Ojai
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/more_ojai_residents_speak_out.shtml
Inabilility or Choice: More Ojai Residents Speak Out About the Killing of the Aliso Street Bear
Part Two in a series on the Ojai Community’s response to a killing of a black bear in Ojai.
By Carol L. Healy.
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/inabilility_or_choice_more_oja.shtml
Bears To Be On Future Ojai City Council Agenda
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/10/bears_to_be_on_future_ojai_cit.shtml

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