An approximately 300-pound bear was fatally struck by an SUV Monday on a freeway transition road in Irwindale.
The crash occurred about 4:15 a.m. on the transition road from the westbound Foothill (210) Freeway to the southbound San Gabriel Valley (605) Freeway, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Ramon Kendricks.
Officers dispatched to the scene located the bear dead in the number one lane of the transition road, CHP Officer Rodrigo Jimenez said. It was not immediately known if the SUV sustained any damage.
A flat-bed tow truck called out to the scene took the bear to the Caltrans Monrovia Yard, later to be recovered by a Fish and Wildlife biologist, Jimenez said.
A vehicle striking a bear is “not unheard of — and I wouldn’t say it’s common,” an officer at the CHP’s Baldwin Park office said. “They (bears) don’t typically get on the freeway.”
A representative for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife could not be reached for immediate comment.
The roadway was cleared about 6:30 a.m., Kendricks said.
