BEAR CUB TOO TAME FOR FOREST; ANIMAL BEING REHABILITATED.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

A 35-pound bear cub, captured because it had grown too fearless around people, is being raised in captivity until animal specialists determine whether it can be released to the wild.

Tranquilized and collared, the bear was removed from a tree near Pyramid Lake last weekend by a game warden who climbed up after the animal, said Patrick Moore, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game.

Authorities would not disclose the location of the bear cub, citing a need for the animal to distance itself from human contact - which undermines its ability to survive on its own.

``It's been imprinted by people, and unless somebody can figure out a way (for it) to be wild again, where it's not depending on people for its livelihood, then it will go back to hanging around people and looking for handouts,'' Moore said.

The California black bear cub spent two nights at the Los Angeles County animal shelter in Castaic but was spirited off to parts unknown - or top secret - on Monday, said Jerry White, an animal control officer at the Castaic shelter.

The male cub, estimated to be 5 months old, stood about 18 inches tall at the haunches. His keepers fed the cub, caged in one of the shelter's dog pens, canned dog food and fresh fruit and vegetables, White said.

Shelter workers, he added, didn't name the animal, hold it or get too attached because such interaction would be counterproductive to rehabilitating the bear for a return to the wild.

``They were told to leave him alone,'' White said, noting bears learn bad habits when they spend too much time around humans.

``If they're aggressive (around people), they don't get to eat,'' he said. ``But if they're nice and cute, walk on their back feet and beg, they get all sorts of goodies - which, in all honesty, does not do the bear any favors.''

The cub, White said, ``has learned to associate people with food, and that would eventually lead to a problem.''

Fish and game wardens had been monitoring the cub's movements for a few days, waiting for its mother to return. Female bears often leave their cubs for a few days to forage for food, coming back when they have something to feed their young, White said.

``Apparently it had been hanging around the lake for a while. Black bears are indigenous to this area. There are a lot of them at Pyramid,'' White said. Game wardens decided to capture the animal ``when (the mother) didn't show up, and the cub was getting more and more comfortable around people.''

Black bears can grow to be 400 pounds. Experts advise residents to pick up the fruit that falls from backyard trees and tightly secure garbage can lids, as these are among a bear's favorite forage spots.

``There are several bears up there (at Pyramid Lake) that we've had to (tranquilize with) darts,'' Moore said. Game wardens take the bears ``to the backcountry and put an ear tag on them just to keep track of them,'' he said.

Once bears become acclimated to people, those habits of dependency are hard to break, White said. ``People just have to understand that this is a wild animal, even as cute as it is or as cuddly as it is,'' he said. ``He would lose what little fear he had of people, and he would start getting pushy.

``I think fish and game summed it up best when they said he was too wild to be tamed, and too tame to be wild.''