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Glendale Bear's Twitter Writer Raising Money To Build His California Habitat

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — The woman behind the Twitter account of Southern California's favorite, meatball-eating bear is raising money in an effort to keep him in California.

Sarah Aujero has printed up T-shirts, reusable bags and buttons bearing Glen Bearian's visage to sell online, with all proceeds going to building a new habitat for him at Lions Tigers & Bears animal sanctuary in San Diego County.

Sarah Aujero
Sarah Aujero models the T-shirts she is selling to raise money for Meatball's habitat at Lions Tigers & Bears in San Diego County. (credit: Darleene Powells/CBS)

Aujero, who manages the @TheGlendaleBear account, says the Bronx Zoo cobra (@BronxZoosCobra) inspired the Twitter account.

The black bear, who is affectionately referred to as both Glen Bearian and Meatball, earned the nickname after breaking into a La Crescenta garage and grabbing a bag of Costco meatballs out of a refrigerator. After repeated trips into Foothill-area neighborhoods in search of food, even after being trucked out of the area to the Angeles National Forest, he was captured and taken to Lions Tigers & Bears.

The original plan was for Glen Bearian to stay at the San Diego County animal sanctuary temporarily before making his last trip to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado. But a quirk in a Colorado state law has prevented that move.

Even though a lawsuit has been filed in an effort to move Glen Bearian, Aujero is hoping to raise some money to build him a proper habitat. Aujero's shirts – which are black and are styled similarly to the California flag – are on sale for $15 each. The reusable bags – which have a bear's face on one side, and a bear's rear on the other – are $5, and buttons are $2.

glendale bear bags
Proceeds from these $5 reusable bags will go toward building a habitat for Meatball/Glen Bearian. (credit: Darleene Powells/CBS)

They're available for sale at theglendalebear.com.

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