Mama bear, cub take stroll through Altadena school

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- Students and staff at Pasadena Rosebud Academy, a charter school in the Altadena foothills, were surprised when a couple of bears showed up on campus.

A mama bear wandered near classrooms while her cub munched on snacks from a trash bin around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Eighth-grader Daniel Brown said he had just left the cafeteria when he noticed something out of the ordinary.

"I didn't see it at first, all I saw was a head. And then I just stood still, because I didn't want to make any sounds, and I just thought to myself, 'There's a bear on our campus,'" he said.

Daniel went straight to the office and told school officials.

Administrators rushed outside to make sure students were safe and alerted students and staff at a neighboring school.

The school's business manager, Dana Brumfield, rushed out to see if the bear was close to the playground and accidentally had a close encounter with the mama bear.

"Two of our staff members hollered my name to stop, and I turned around to look at them and they said, the bear is right behind you. So, needless to say, amazingly I was able to jump over a fence into the ivy," Brumfield said.

Though this is the first bear sighting on campus, the school does have protocols in place for such an event. The students were placed on lockdown in their classrooms.

The bears did not behave in an aggressive manner, but staffers kept a close eye on them.

Police arrived, but the bears wandered away on their own.