Photo by Carlos Baldonado

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

A bear spotted roaming around the parking lot of the Ponderosa Pine Apartments today at 3000 Trinity Dr., is thought to be the same bear that entered the Betty Ehart Senior Center around noon today at 1101 Bathtub Row.

Readers began alerting the Los Alamos Daily Post that a bear had entered the senior center.

“I can confirm that there was a bear in our senior center building,” Executive Director Bernadette Lauritzen told the Post over the phone, adding that the bear had the same appearance as the one spotted at Ponderosa Pine Apartments. It entered the senior center while staff was busy with lunch operations.

Lauritzen first found out about the bear being near by from police officers who arrived at the center and alerted her that a bear was in close proximity. Lauritzen rushed through the building alerting staff to the danger lurking outside when a police officer told her the bear had now entered the building through the back entrance. Then she saw it. 

Lauritzen began screaming for staff members to shut the doors to their offices. The bear made its way to a classroom and stood up in front of a television set appearing to look at its reflection in the glass, she said. At one point an officer fired a rubber bullet to divert the bear and it eventually moseyed back out the rear door to parts unknown.

“The entire event lasted about 30 minutes,” Lauritzen said, adding that this is the first time she has seen a bear in real life and right in front of her.