CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : CAMARILLO : Bear Captured After Visiting Downtown

A bear looking for a bite to eat visited McDonald’s and El Pollo Loco before his stroll through town was halted. The 300-pound bear was spotted about 5 a.m. Saturday in a strawberry field and then again at a McDonald’s restaurant. The sightings quickly drew personnel from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, animal regulation agency, state Department of Fish and Game and the California Highway Patrol. The bear was shot with a tranquilizer dart, but it climbed a fence and lumbered away through downtown. Part of the Ventura Freeway was closed for 10 minutes when it looked as if the bear might cross the thoroughfare. Officers fired two more darts into the bear, and it finally fell asleep against the back wall of the El Pollo Loco restaurant at 7:25 a.m. The bear was trucked into Los Padres National Forest and freed.