A Wild Bear Chase

A year-old black bear led authorities on a four-hour chase through back yards Saturday before it was tranquilized.

“We chased this sucker up trees, down trees. It even went into the swimming pool of someone’s back yard,” said sheriff’s Lt. Jim Hays.

Nearly a dozen sheriff’s deputies and game officials took part in the chase. A helicopter was called in to scare the bear out of a 50-foot-high tree.

The bear, which weighs 85 to 100 pounds and is close to 3 feet tall, had wandered out of the nearby Angeles National Forest in this Los Angeles suburb, authorities said.

It was caught after being shot four times with tranquilizer darts while in a 15-foot-high tree, Hays said.