During the abrupt move, the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and the California State Office of Historic Preservation, ousts the California School for the Deaf on illegally removing historical architecture from the Berkeley site to the new Fremont site.  Items such as iron gates, door decorations, drinking fountains, and most importantly Douglas Tilden’s sculpture The Bear Hunt.  According to the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, the deaf and blind institute is a registered historical site, and removing the statue from a registered historical site violates the state’s Executive Order 6480.  Although the law states, the statue does not need to remain on the historical site, but must be inventoried if any changes occur at a historically registered site.  For some, The Bear Hunt represents one of the last artifacts memorializing Berkeley deaf culture.

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There is conflicting reports on whether Tilden gifted the deaf institution The Bear Hunt in 1895, originally entitled Death Grip, or if the statue was collateral for a loan and later used as reimbursement for financial support to pursue artistic training.