Community Discusses Bear Concerns
Chris Nottoli
By Nancy Gross
Less than two weeks after a treed bear was tranquilized and euthanized on Aliso Street, Ojai residents and an unexpected guest from Mammoth Lakes brought passion and knowledge to Thursday night’s meeting at Matilija Junior High School.
Chris Nottoli, Sue Williamson, Tom Farmer and others who hope to prevent the deaths of more wild animals arranged this community gathering with a primary purpose of forming the Ojai Wildlife League.
Similar to Search and Rescue and the Ojai Raptor Center, O.W.L. would be a valley-wide rescue group, possibly under the umbrella of an existing organization, that could share information and resources with other groups nationwide.
Ann Bryant, executive director of Bear League in Lake Tahoe, has already had a letter published in the Ojai Valley News on Oct. 21. In an e-mail to the OVN, Bryant wrote, “I have received numerous calls from residents of Ojai regarding the killing of this bear. Not sure how they all found me except by maybe going online and searching bear groups or having heard of my group when we rescued the bear who fell under the Rainbow Bridge in September of 2007. Several of these folks have been e-mailing me the articles from the Ojai Valley News as well as the Santa Barbara newspaper.”
The surprise visitor was Marianne O’Connor of Bear-With-Us in Mammoth Lakes. She drove seven hours to attend the meeting, and said her organization, which began 18 months ago, is modeled after the Tahoe Bear League, with full permission and support of Bryant. O’Conner lives in a town four square miles surrounded by national forest. They regularly have 30 bears in town, and often have to deal with problem bears that have found human food sources. Her group has published a pamphlet that teaches people about black bears and how to reduce attractants.
O’Connor said she is someone who can kill a spider. “I can kill a fly, but when it comes to a bear just cruising through town, a bear who got waylaid, there has to be some sincere discussion among everybody about how to effect change at the state level.”
O’Connor said that 10 of the bears typically seen in her area have gone missing around the time one problem bear and her cubs were euthanized. Though her organization is suspicious of the Department of Fish and Game, and depredation permits that allow wildlife trappers to be hired to kill problem bears on private property, she expressed a preference for policy change over a blame game.
“Get the Natural Resources Defense Council involved. Get the great local celebrities involved,” O’Connor said.
Someone at the meeting said that Yoko Ono had called regarding the Aliso Street bear, and that the Chicago Sun Times and newspapers in Pennsylvania and New York have included this story in their national news.
There were moments when Nottoli had to remind people that this is a first meeting in what might be a lengthy process. He said it was a time to get experiences, ideas and feelings out on the table. He went over a timeline of his experience observing the bear from the time it entered his neighborhood until the time it was tranquilized and encouraged others to speak about whatever they might know or have heard, including information from communication with officials and experts in an attempt to separate rumors from facts.
Current and former game wardens, forest service workers and biologists are among the people who have been contacted and questioned by Ojai residents looking for alternatives.
Nottoli said he wants the group to become one that “city government likes, local law enforcement likes, and is respected by larger government organizations.”
There was evidence presented that the group’s objective to look into influencing policy at the state level already has some momentum. Pedro Nava, California Assembly member from Santa Barbara, is asking for an informational hearing or investigation into the Department of Fish and Game’s policy on euthanizing wild animals that enter human communities. Nava has contacted Jared Huffman, chairman of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, and his letter mentions the Ojai bear incident and Ojai community members who have contacted his office as a prime reason for pursuing this inquiry.
Nava also addressed the way that the many wildfires sustained regionally may result in an increase of bears coming into populated areas when there is habitat loss.
Several attendees at Thursday’s meeting mentioned that Donald Koch, director of DFG who was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in April 2008, resigned Thursday for unknown personal reasons, and they wondered if this recent controversy is part of Koch’s decision. An Internet search confirms Koch’s resignation.
Earlier in the week a private meeting was held between Julia Di Sieno, executive director of the Santa Ynez-based Animal Rescue Team, and Ojai Police Chief Chris Dunn and Ojai residents Nottoli, Julie Tumamait and Ramey McCullough. Others at the meeting included representatives from both Nava’s and State Sen. Tony Strickland’s office, and a University of California at Santa Barbara biologist , formerly of the Yosemite Parks Department.
Nottoli said the reason for visiting Di Sieno was “to look at an organization like Julia’s to see how she does it. We saw bobcats in cages and a big ass turkey.” Nottoli also expressed appreciation for Dunn attending the private meeting. In a phone call Friday, Dunn said there is groundwork to be done on the organizers part, but, “We’re always open to other options and resources as long as we have the backing necessary.”
For Thursday’s meeting chairs were placed in the front of Matilija Auditorium, so an intimate circle could be created. It was a time for neighbors to come together. A website is in the works.
For more information, visit savebears.org and bear-with-us.org.
I sincerely applaud the DFG and SD in the bear incident. Nobody in town got hurt. I just wish the bear could have been skinned and hung so someone would have a beautiful rug to wipe thier feet on
Jesse
23 Oct 09 at 2:15 pm
I sincerely applaud Jesse for having a backwoods mentality and reminding each and every one of us that Ojai was founded by those with backwoods mentality who descendants still choose to live with their head up their ass.
John Doe
23 Oct 09 at 2:27 pm
who cares, enough w/ the bear, aren’t there more pressing issues to be discussed, it would probably be a major problem if you had treed bears every month. O’Connor said she is someone who can kill a spider. “I can kill a fly,.. President Obama killed a fly, & PETA freaked out.
Anonymous
23 Oct 09 at 5:10 pm
Jesse would make great bear chow.
23 Oct 09 at 7:34 pm
Tis the season for some tasty ass bear.
Big n tasty
23 Oct 09 at 8:08 pm
Ok, the city or a settlement has been here how long? The forest and bears have been here how long? People and bears in this area have been sharing the same vacinity for quite a while. I don’t believe these bears are endangered, correct? Stastics from 2006 indicate that there is a bear for every .25 sq miles (avg.). Businesses are closing. People are leaving. Lots of houses are on the market. Not to long ago the city cut the funding to pick up trash in our parks. Not to mention the crappy condition of many streets. School funding has been cut to extremes. Our kids are losing out and a coalition is put together for one dead bear???? HELLO! Where the hell are your priorities?
Anon
24 Oct 09 at 10:14 am
Rich people (Ojai) have no “priorities.”
Libbey Park Bum
24 Oct 09 at 12:41 pm
Is Chris sleep talking?
photo op
24 Oct 09 at 1:23 pm
My priority is to find a solution to the problem. Maybe we could hire the bears to pick up the garbage at the parks.
John Doe
25 Oct 09 at 10:37 pm
Easy to say John from Ventura… Talk, Talk, Talk. Why dont you meet me somewhere to discuss our differences? You name the place and time.
Jesse
26 Oct 09 at 7:12 am
Maybe they’ll pay rent and shop in Ojai and drive the school buses too lmao.
Anon
26 Oct 09 at 8:06 am
Finally, some level headed people are coming forward and calling this whole bear ordeal a JOKE!! Get a life. Worry about the real “HUMAN” problems our city is facing. Take your money and donate it to a local school so that our children can have books, music instruments, computers and P.E. Teachers. I am pretty sure that our children are the future of our country……not the damn bears!!
BearBS
26 Oct 09 at 11:44 am
Jesse,
This is not a form for online dating. Perhaps you should take your alternative lifestyle to the appropriate website.
Ret. Lieut. John Doe
Truth Coalition
John Doe
26 Oct 09 at 2:58 pm
Thank you, Nancy Gross, for reporting on the Thursday night meeting.
The Ojai Wildlife League (OWL) website is up
http://www.ojaiwildlifeleague.com
It is a work in progess with many updates to come, but the basic information is there.
Suza Francina
26 Oct 09 at 6:11 pm
Suzy,
Nobody cares unless the topic is what solution John Doe is offering.
truth with a T
26 Oct 09 at 8:30 pm
Oooh two jokes in one day, pace yourself doe, and both of them in minutes of each other…..
“Ojai’s Water” John Doe 26 Oct 09 at 3:03 pm
and here John Doe 26 Oct 09 at 2:58 pm
Ventura is missing its idiot.
Save a bear!! shoot a doe!!!
??. ?. ????
26 Oct 09 at 10:38 pm
John, I should have know your were to chicken (deleted) to really back up your words. Thats probably why you comment about news from other cities, afraid people in your community will identify you and whip you like your old man used to. I doubt if they try to impregnate you like your daddy did though…
Jesse
27 Oct 09 at 7:14 am
BearBS, THANKS! It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in my concerns. There are lots of real issues that are really heading down a dark path here in Ojai. Unfortunately I think most people will not care until things get bad enough that they it will take a lot more work to fix, you know? Maybe the bear thing is just much to easy for them to worry about because it is a small issue and they are too cowed by the bigger picture? Street conditions, businesses, empty homes, school funding, it’s a tall order.
Anon
27 Oct 09 at 8:58 am
Jesse,
Can you whistle with just one tooth in your mouth?
Ret. Lieut. John Doe
Military Genius
John Doe
27 Oct 09 at 10:40 am
John “THE UNICK” Doe,
Wow, thats it?? You’re to stupid to understand the comments I make. I see why your wife and kids think you’re a joke
Jesse
27 Oct 09 at 11:03 am
Jesse,
Your comments are drivel. Any second grader could understand them. I guess you’re not offended, though, about the one tooth comment you backwoods hick.
Jesse.
27 Oct 09 at 1:26 pm
From a new BBC film, Bearwalker of the Northwoods:
Bears are not ferocious. Lynn Rogers is adamant about that. He said he has never heard a bear roar or even growl, and that in all of his years of close proximity to the animals he has never been seriously hurt even though in his early years he displayed what he calls “bad bear manners”.The bears he knows are timid creatures. Defensive postures, such as swatting their large paws on the ground, are mistaken for aggression by many people.
“In my 42 years of working closely with bears and testing every no-no, I have not found a way of getting a bear to attack. The more I push them the more they try to get away. They might want to nip and slap, but it is not an attack, it is just a way of fending me off so they can find a way to escape.”
It’s humans who are the more dangerous animal, he said. “If you look at the statistics, one black bear out of a million kills somebody. With grizzly bears it’s one in 50,000. Among humans it’s one person out of 18,000 kills somebody. So you could see why I would feel a lot less comfortable in the city than in the woods next to a bear.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/oct/27/black-bears-of-the-northwoods
(Thanks to Ojai resident Wayne Thompson for this item.)
Suza Francina
28 Oct 09 at 10:10 am
Whut bowt all ‘dem bears attack you bin hear
n ’bout?
Jesse "The Mind" Ojai
28 Oct 09 at 12:17 pm
Suza,
It’s too bad you never seem to find a way to transfer your overstated passion to the MANY other pressing, omnipresent issues truly affecting Ojai (schools, gangs, improving local economy). Then again, the only issue I remember you ever being passionate about on the city council was saving a dead oak tree…. Yes, the incident with the bear is sad, but you using it an election banner reeks.
Don't Go Joe!!
28 Oct 09 at 12:31 pm
We shud hirre gangs to keip bers out of are towen.
Jesse "The Mind" Ojai
28 Oct 09 at 1:58 pm
Did anyone hear about the director of CA.F&G stepping down???
Keyt news did a very short 15sec. piece on it and reported “it has nothing to do with the Ojai bear incident”,
what an odd thing to say, just like a local city council member suddenly stepping down.
BTW:I’m not bashing Joe just wondering why all these “long term” officials are all the sudden “getting out” now???
??. ?. ????
28 Oct 09 at 7:56 pm
28 Oct 09 at 12:31 pm, maybe that’s why they killed the bear, to save the tree.
BearKilla
29 Oct 09 at 4:27 pm
Maybe Chris could be appointed to the council!
Anonymous
31 Oct 09 at 10:11 am
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CRAZY PEOPLE ON HERE?
Dr. Freud
4 Nov 09 at 10:45 am
maybe you should of been up that tree scared to death no way to get away from people like you . Too bad the bear did not have you up a tree and eating your tasty ass MR.BIG N TASTY JERK
davidson
9 Nov 09 at 8:51 pm
We should recruit a local bear to fill the vacant city council seat. It would be the classic cliche, “killing two birds with one stone.” We could save the money on an expensive special election and extend the olive branch to the local bear residents. That way, their voice would be heard too!
?.?. Jr.
Student of ??. ?. ????., Ret. Lieut. John Doe’s Teacher
(Third Generation Doer)
?. ?. Jr.
10 Nov 09 at 9:47 am