On Saturday, a black bear decided he was going to have a beach day at Rincon. Santa Barbara County sheriff’s Sgt. Brad Welch told Noozhawk, a Santa Barbara news outlet, that the bruin showed up around 2 pm.
Officials suspect that the bear found its way at the Queen of the Coast by way of Rincon Creek, then somehow got onto the roof of an outbuilding–possibly for a quick surf check. It stayed on the beach for nearly three hours while game wardens tried to figure out how to get him out of there.
“The amazing thing to me is that he was on the beach, and he was running across the creek, and people were acting like he was a dog,” said Mike Taylor, a resident of the area, told Noozhawk. Taylor and his wife have lived in Santa Barbara for more than 20 years, and they’ve never seen a bear on the beach.
Noozhawk reported that the bear was eventually tranquilized and relocated, although that’s not confirmed– whatever happened, however, the bear is no longer on the beach… which is good.
