Incident occurs just days after Meatball is seen in area.

By Robin GOLDSWORTHY

CV sheriffs responded to a report of a bear that was struck by a car in the 400 block of Foothill Boulevard near McDonald’s around 7 a.m. this morning.

“A call first came in at 6 a.m. of a sighting of a bear,” said Sgt. Hanson of the CV Sheriff’s station. At 7 a.m., a report was made that a bear had been struck.

“The bear went off into the bushes [afterward],” said Sgt. Hanson. The bushes border the Foothill 210 Freeway. The driver’s vehicle had suffered some minor scratches from the incident.

Sgt. Hanson said that the driver didn’t notice any identification on the bear, such as the prominent red tag on the Crescenta Valley bear known as Meatball.

It was not known how hurt the bear was or if it was Meatball, though that area is further east than Meatball is known to travel. There have been several sightings in the Altadena area of another bear known to visit neighborhoods in search of food.

The early morning incident occurred just days after Meatball was spotted in the area – again – despite efforts by Fish and Game to relocate him. The 400-lb. bear was seen as recently as this past week in the backyard of a home in an Ocean View Boulevard neighborhood.