Bear lured out of Redding hidey hole with fruit

A police camera caught this image of a bear running through the streets of Redding, Calif., before dawn Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. A police camera caught this image of a bear running through the streets of Redding, Calif., before dawn Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. Photo: Redding Police Department Photo: Redding Police Department Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bear lured out of Redding hidey hole with fruit 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

UPDATE: The black bear was captured at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday when it got hungry for apples. It crawled out of a culvert and into a cage containing the fruit. CHP reported that it turned over the bruin to Fish and Wildlife officers, who released it on a large ranch with hundreds of acres of open space outside the city.

Redding police have surrounded a suspect holed up in a drainpipe under a road following an early morning pursuit and are reportedly trying to lure it out with fresh apples.

The dark, hairy suspect — a black bear — was described by officers on Facebook as "clearly scared and not aggressive towards people."

Redding police, later joined by California Highway Patrol troopers and Shasta County Sheriff's Office deputies, chased the bruin early Monday morning from the area Hilltop Drive at Commerce Drive to the Rother School campus and then onto the shoulder of Interstate 5.

The bear, estimated to weigh about 300 pounds, was last spotted crawling into a culvert underneath Churn Creek Road.

RELATED: Marin's mystery bear shows up at Tomales Bay

A Department of Fish and Wildlife officer climbed into the culvert in hopes of locating the bear, but could not see it down the length of the drain.

A cage with apples inside to tempt the fearful bear was set up alongside the drain hole.

Commenters on the Redding police Facebook page speculated that the bear's habitat may have been destroyed by the recent Carr Fire, prompting it to search for food in the city.

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Read Mike Moffitt's latest stories and send him news tips at mmoffitt@sfchronicle.com.

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