Cathy Perfect - Kern Valley Sun

Easter is typically a time of year when we keep our eyes peeled for bunnies and egg-filled baskets, not bears. Well, tell that to Bob Fisher of Wofford Heights, who reported that on Saturday evening, about 6:30 p.m., a 150-pound brown bear wandered into his garage and seemed determined to hang around just long enough to wreak havoc on Fisher’s workshop. 'I was working on one of my RC (remote controlled) planes and all of a sudden here’s this bear in my garage,' said the retired Kern River Valley Search and Rescue team captain. 'It crawled up on my work bench and broke one of my favorite planes. He chewed up a pair of gloves and he pooped on my sander...what a mess!'

No matter what Fisher tried, he couldn’t get that rascal to leave. He knew it would be an exercise in bureaucratic futility, but Fisher called 9-1-1 anyway. The dispatcher said the Department of Fish and Game should be notified and gave him the department’s Sacramento office phone number. He called and asked the DFG representative, 'What do you do when you have a bear in your garage?'

This 150-pound brown bear paid a weekend visit to Bob and Shirley Fisher’s home in Wofford Heights

Fisher could tell he wasn’t making much headway when, in characteristic bureaucratic doublespeak, the DGF rep told him it was okay to shoot the bear. 'They told me it was okay to shoot the bear if I felt threatened,' Fisher said, 'but they added, ’ÄòIf you do decide to shoot it, call us first.’'

Yeah right.

The finally moseyed off about 8 p.m., only to return on Easter Sunday. It was about 2 p.m. Another call to Sacramento. Fisher said the game warden from Ridgecrest, who had been stuck in Kennedy Meadows the previous day, called him saying, 'I hear your bear’s back.'

'This time the bear got into my bird seed barrel, my trash. I squirted him with a hose and he climbed up a tree,' Fisher said. 'By now, the game warden arrived; he wanted to give the bear a chance to come down from the tree on his own.' The bear did come down for a stroll. 'We looked over and he was standing on his hind feet with his paws on the window sill, looking into the laundry room,' Fisher said.

The game warden shot a couple of bean bags at the intruder, only to see him scurry back up the tree. 'He was about 75 feet up that tree,' Fisher said.

The bear finally came down and took a bean bag right between the eyes and wandered away. The game warden said he’d never seen anything like it.