Campus Alert Archive
UC Davis

BEAR SIGHTED ON CAMPUS: 13 All-Caps Words From the WarnMe System

CAotheradvisoryhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the morning of June 4, 2019, a one-year-old male black bear wandered onto the UC Davis campus, first spotted around 5:45 a.m. PDT near the Arboretum and Old Davis Road, prompting a terse all-caps WarnMe text at about 8 a.m. PDT. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife tranquilized the bear and released it unharmed in a wooded area north of campus.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
University of California, Davis
Public R1 · CA
~39,000 studentsWarnMe
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimUC Davis official Facebook post quoting the WarnMe SMS verbatim126 chars
UC Davis WarnMe: BEAR SIGHTED ON CAMPUS LS WB FROM SOLANO PARK TO ARBORETUM AREA FISH AND GAME ONSCENE STAY AWAY FROM THE AREA
The all-caps SMS compresses the alert to the bare minimum: a location vector (LS WB = last seen westbound, from Solano Park to the Arboretum), the responding agency, and a single instruction to stay away.
The abbreviations 'LS WB' and 'ONSCENE' are preserved exactly from the verbatim text and are authenticity markers of a 160-character SMS constraint environment.
Issued through WarnMe as a discretionary advisory rather than a Clery timely warning, since a bear sighting is not a Clery crime category.
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed all-clear based on FOX40 reporting that the bear was tranquilized and removed171 chars
UC Davis WarnMe Update: The bear sighted on campus has been safely tranquilized and removed by California Fish and Wildlife. There is no further threat. The area is clear.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed all-clear reflecting confirmed reporting that California Fish and Wildlife tranquilized the bear and released it north of campus; the exact follow-up WarnMe text was not published.
Qualifies as a genuine all-clear because it states there is no further threat and the area is clear, unlike the initial stay-away instruction.
The bear was released unharmed roughly an hour and a half north of campus, an outcome the all-clear summarizes without the geographic detail.
Context

Background

On the morning of June 4, 2019, a one-year-old male black bear was first spotted around 5:45 a.m. PDT in Parking Lot 5 between the Arboretum's redwood grove and Old Davis Road on the south side of UC Davis. About 8 a.m. PDT the campus pushed a terse, all-caps WarnMe SMS: 'BEAR SIGHTED ON CAMPUS LS WB FROM SOLANO PARK TO ARBORETUM AREA FISH AND GAME ONSCENE STAY AWAY FROM THE AREA'. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife tranquilized the bear and released it unharmed in a wooded area about ninety minutes north of campus. No one was hurt. The case is a rare verbatim wildlife alert: the SMS survives word-for-word in a UC Davis post, showing how the 160-character constraint flattens a bear emergency into thirteen capitalized words, a location vector, and one instruction.
Analysis

Key Findings

The UC Davis WarnMe SMS is preserved verbatim ('BEAR SIGHTED ON CAMPUS LS WB FROM SOLANO PARK TO ARBORETUM AREA FISH AND GAME ONSCENE STAY AWAY FROM THE AREA'), a rare confirmed wildlife alert text
The all-caps abbreviations LS WB and ONSCENE illustrate how an SMS constraint environment compresses a bear sighting into a minimal location-and-instruction message
California Fish and Wildlife tranquilized and released the one-year-old bear unharmed, supporting a genuine all-clear; the alert was a discretionary advisory, not a Clery timely warning
Outcome
No injuries. The bear was tranquilized by California Fish and Wildlife and released unharmed to a wooded area about an hour and a half north of campus.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Social
    UC Davis WarnMe: BEAR SIGHTED ON CAMPUS - UC Davis Facebook
    facebook.com
  2. Official
    Bear Caught in the Morning, Freed 5 Hours Later - UC Davis News
    ucdavis.edu
  3. News
    Bear Spotted On UC Davis Campus 'Safely Detained' - CapRadio
    capradio.org
  4. News
    CAPTURED: Bear Seen on UC Davis Campus Near Arboretum Drive - FOX40
    fox40.com
Tags
wildlifebearadvisorycaliforniaverbatimall-clearuc-davis
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion