photo credit: Sonoma County Regional Parks
A wildlife camera captured this image of a California
black bear passing through Hood Mountain Regional Park.

It's unknown exactly how many black bears live in Sonoma County, but one had a fatal encounter this week near Forestville.

A four hundred-thirty pound male black bear was stuck and killed on River Road.

CHP Public Information Officer David deRutte told KRCB News the bear was hit by a Chevy pickup truck at 4:38 am Tuesday morning along westbound River Road at Trenton Road.

The driver of the truck was not injured, and the bear initially survived the impact.

According to deRutte, “it was walking around his truck and even clawed at his truck apparently,” he said.

The truck was totaled and the bear eventually died along the westbound shoulder.

State biologists were called in to take possession of the bear.

Krysten Kellum is a California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson. She says it was not a collared bear, adding, “we collected tooth and genetic samples and we'll use that in our bear database,” Kellum said.

That database monitors the size and health of California's bear population, which the state agency estimates at 50,000 to 80,000 bears.

"There's a lot of bears in the North Coast up to the Cascade region," Kellum said. "Between those two regions we've got almost half of statewide black bear population,” she said.

Despite those numbers, deRutte said it is rare to have a bear collision in Sonoma County.

“I honestly was shocked," deRutte said. "I didn't even know they were this close. like, they're down here?” 

According to Sonoma County Regional Parks, an average male black bear grows to 150 to 300 pounds, so the one killed this week was among the largest.

Regional Parks staff say they have documented bears across Sonoma County through wildlife cameras, tracks and other signs like scat and bite marks on trees.

Agency staff also say despite the widespread documentation, sightings of black bears in Sonoma County are incredibly rare - much rarer than mountain lion sightings.

They do note, however, the bear population seems to be increasing in Sonoma County, so sightings and encounters may become more frequent.