EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to identify Justin Saylor as being from Arlington, Va.

A small bear tramped around the area of Broadway and Boulder Creek in downtown Boulder on Thursday afternoon with a group of police and animal control officers in tow.

University of Colorado police officers and Boulder animal control officers could be seen following the bear and warning pedestrians and onlookers near Central Park.

“Let’s give him an exit,” one officer said after the bear ran down a dead end — a fenced-in area near Broadway and Grandview before turning around and making for Boulder Creek.

Boulder police spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly said that officers responded to 17th and University at about 1:30 p.m. and open space and mountain parks officers saw the bear near Grandview and Broadway shortly before 2 p.m. but cleared the scene shortly after.

The bear eventually jumped into Boulder Creek and swam westward before climbing back out and running westbound toward the mountains with police and animal control officers following along.

CU Boulder spokesman Ryan Huff said the bear was first spotted at about 7 a.m. on Thursday near the Grandview area of campus but ran off along Boulder Creek.

“Per our wildlife folks, they weren’t aware of any activity on campus other than this morning,” Huff said.

Huff didn’t have any information on whether the bear was the same one that hung out all day near Varsity Lake in early September. That bear eventually made its way up a creek path after sleeping most of the day.

On Thursday, Pablo Alvarez, of Los Angeles, said he was sitting along the banks of Boulder Creek in Central Park when he heard someone yell, “Hey, watch out.”

“I looked over and said, ‘Hey, a baby bear,'” Alvarez said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a bear. I’ve seen lots of ducks.”

Alvarez said he has been in Boulder about two weeks as he is traveling around the country, but he has enjoyed getting to see wildlife in town — something he doesn’t see much of in Los Angeles.

A little to the east of Alvarez, Justin Saylor, of Arlington, Va., was sitting with friends when he heard someone yell “Bear!” But he couldn’t immediately see one and wasn’t sure if there actually was one.

“I looked around and couldn’t see anything, but they were screaming at me, trying to save my life,” he said. “I’m not used to this. It’s a good thing mama bear didn’t come out.”

Saylor had just smoked some marijuana with his friends and told himself, “This might not be happening.”

“I was like, ‘No way,'” he said. “But, ‘Yes way’ — there was a bear.”

John Bear: 303-473-1355, bearj@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme