Having launched the Glendale bear known as Meatball to stardom and nurtured a growing fundraising and media campaign to secure him a permanent sanctuary, Sarah Aujero was understandably excited to become one of few nonofficial people to see the 400-pound black bear in person.
Finally, after months of working tirelessly on his behalf, she was face to face last Thursday with the famous Meatball in his temporary, caged enclosure at a facility east of San Diego. And when the moment came? He burped in her face.
"I had to double-check and ask if that was a growl or a burp, and it was confirmed to be a burp," Aujero said of the bear, whose persistent visits to the hilly neighborhoods of Glendale, La Crescenta and Montrose eventually landed him in a 15-by-20-foot quarantine cage at the Lions, Tigers & Bears sanctuary in Alpine.
PHOTOS: The Glendale bear captured for good?
Aujero, who took on the Twitter persona of Glen Bearian to help save Meatball, said he seems to be a picky eater ? he likes grapes and red Gatorade, but turns his nose up at nectarines and peaches.
No matter, Meatball has dedicated fans.
Ali Van Zee, a hospice nurse from the Bay Area, is one of them. She donated $2,500 to transport him to a sanctuary in Colorado, and was unfazed when that trip was blocked by a Colorado regulation.
On Wednesday, Van Zee instead spent a chunk of that money on 350 pounds of nuts and berries at Sprouts Farmers Market in El Cajon as part of a two-day trip to see the bear in his temporary home. It was the biggest single purchase of nuts the store has ever received, manager Tom Tarantino said.
"In order to save his life, we had to change his life," said Van Zee, who first saw Meatball's exploits on "The Rachel Maddow Show" and later began following him on Twitter ? @TheGlendaleBear. "The whole thing was very special just to be there and to see again what a beautiful, beautiful animal he is."
Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign called Operation Meatball kicked into high gear, with Aujero and fellow Glendale residents raising nearly $3,000 by selling T-shirts, buttons and tote bags featuring a cartoon rendering of Meatball. That and other donations are seen as helping to secure a permanent habitat for the bear.
The Alpine sanctuary, on the edge of the Cleveland National Forest, has begun its own fundraising campaign to build a natural habitat for him, complete with a waterfall, hammocks, trees and caves.
Until then, the quarantine cage will be his home, although the owner of the Wild Animal Sanctuary northeast of Denver filed suit Tuesday to try to bring Meatball there.
The bear still must undergo medical procedures, such as getting neutered and implanted with a microchip as he becomes acclimated to captivity.
Van Zee thinks the media attention saved Meatball's life because wildlife officials don't typically continue to relocate bears that keep coming back to urban areas.
"Meatball can really represent the plight of all bears," she said. "The fact is that he got lucky."
brittany.levine@latimes.com
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