It was a wild goose chase with a twist.

That’s because instead of a goose, authorities spent several hours on Thursday, April 19, looking for a black bear that had been spotted in a number of areas in West Sedona.

The first calls to the Sedona Police Department came in the early afternoon in the Airport Road area, then Oak Creek Boulevard.

The bear was next photographed on Birch Boulevard, one street to the east and a few hundred feet south of its previous location. 

The bear then made its way across a busy State Route 89A to Whole Foods. Once authorities got to the store, the bear headed north toward Posse Grounds Park after scaling the fence of a home on San Patricio Drive. It was spotted several times in that vicinity, which lead to the public pool being closed and West Sedona School being placed on lockdown.

According to Principal Scott Keller, parents were notified through auto dial, email and Facebook, which are the school’s standard emergency response avenues. Parents were told that the school was going into lockdown because of a bear approaching campus, and that the school would remain in lockdown until cleared by police and animal control.

Students who take the bus were escorted by police to the pickup area, while those who were picked up by their parents were escorted by police to the cafeteria.

“I’m very proud of how the students and staff responded to this lockdown,” Keller said. “Generally, we practice lockdowns and they are not real. This was a real lockdown and we were buttoned up [gates closed, classrooms locked, campus empty] within two minutes. We did receive a number of calls asking what was happening, and we were able to handle all calls received.”

SPD’s Lt. Lucas Wilcoxson, who helped escort the students, said that as of Monday, April 23, they had not received any further calls regarding the bear since Thursday. They assisted Arizona Game and Fish in the search but to no avail.

Needless to say, searching for bears is not something Sedona police officers deal with on a regular basis.

“Working for SPD for over 20 years, this is the third bear sighting that I am aware of,” he said. “It is rare for a bear to come into town, but living in the forest area, we do have other wildlife come into town seeking food and water.”

As for the lockdown, Wilcoxson agreed with Keller that it went as well as could be expected.

“The school lockdown was necessary, since the bear was so close to the school,” he said. “We did not want children to approach the bear as they would in a zoo setting for their safety.

“All the teachers reacted very professionally and assisted in any way they could to make sure all students were safe. On behalf of the police department, I would like to thank all the teachers for their assistance in making this lockdown go smoothly and keeping all the children calm.”

Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 122, or email reland@larsonnewspapers.com