Bear Naked Truth

Incidents with black bears in the Tahoe Keys area of South Lake Tahoe are getting national and international attention. Tahoe is natural bear habitat, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) takes each of these periodic incidents seriously.

CDFW is enlisting the community’s support and cooperation to conduct a thorough effort to keep bears away from people and homes and— when needed— to trap, tag and work to relocate habituated bears. All of these efforts are focused on keeping residents safe, and enabling safe and healthy conditions for these bears.

While recent incidents of bears invading homes were originally thought to be a single bear, DNA evidence collected from the most recent incident as well as prior incidents over the past several months prove that at least three bears were responsible for breaking into numerous residences. The most recent incident was attributed to a large black bear (the same bear the public is calling “Hank”) likely based on visual observation. Considering new evidence suggesting multiple bears are responsible for recent incidents, CDFW will work in coming weeks and months to trap bears in the South Lake Tahoe area, tag them, collect evidence for genetic analysis, and then release them into suitable habitat. During this effort, CDFW will gather information and learn from scientific analysis to help inform and refine our bear management in the Lake Tahoe Basin. CDFW is not going to euthanize any bears that are trapped during this effort.

Identifying bears simply by their visible, physical characteristics can lead to misidentifying bears and therefore confusing management efforts. The genetic information gleaned from our effort in the South Lake Tahoe area will assist CDFW by expanding its database of bear genetics and hopefully preventing future misidentification of bears.

For this effort to be successful, CDFW will need ample community support. First, CDFW requests the Tahoe Keys and surrounding communities to collaborate on the placement of traps to protect both residents and the bears. CDFW must have approval to place traps on private property and will need that access for this effort to work. Additionally, for traps to work, they must be left alone and not vandalized or harmed in any way.

It is critical that Tahoe Keys residents and everyone who lives or recreates in the Lake Tahoe Basin carefully store food and trash. Increasingly, CDFW is involved in bear/human conflicts that could have been avoided by people taking a few simple actions. Bears are primarily scent-driven when seeking food. Improperly stored human food and trash are likely attracting bears into this neighborhood. We all need to take all precautions to store food and trash properly to protect ourselves, our neighbors and local bears. Additional information and resources are available at CDFW’s Keep Me Wild: Black Bear web page.

CDFW has been reaching out to local governments and homeowners’ associations to educate residents and visitors of Lake Tahoe about “bear-proofing” homes, including installation of bear-proof garbage receptacles. CDFW will continue this important outreach and is exploring options to ensure that homes in the Lake Tahoe Basin are equipped with these receptacles.

CDFW’s new bear policy highlights the importance of these actions, and establishes a clear process to address each unique situation with bear/human conflict as it arises. It takes an adaptive management approach that relies on community partnerships.

By working together, these efforts to protect residents and bears can be successful. We appreciate everyone’s engagement as we work through this situation in a thoughtful, science-based, transparent manner.

Within hours of receiving authorization to care for bear cubs again, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care welcomed an orphaned, 25-pound bear cub from Tulare County to its improved South Lake Tahoe facility December 8, 2021.

Three more orphaned cubs – two siblings from the South Lake Tahoe area and a third cub from the Coleville area in Mono County – were transferred shortly thereafter from Gold Country Wildlife Rescue in Auburn to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care to prepare the cubs for hibernation in a high-country climate similar to where they were rescued and where they will ultimately be returned to the wild.

“Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is an important partner, one with decades of experience rehabilitating and releasing bear cubs back to the wild,” said Dr. Brandon Munk, wildlife veterinarian for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). “We’ve been working closely with them to ensure we are all maintaining the best possible standards for bear rehabilitation in this state.”

Munk was among five CDFW employees who conducted a site inspection of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care’s facilities December 7, 2021 prior to renewing its permit to temporarily possess and rehabilitate injured and orphaned black bear cubs.

Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care operates under a CDFW wildlife rehabilitation permit to conduct care and rehabilitation of native wildlife -- excluding big game species such as deer, elk, and black bears. Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care had a secondary agreement with CDFW to rehabilitate black bear cubs that expired on July 22, 2021. Efforts to renew that secondary permit were temporarily delayed by the much-publicized escape this summer of a bear cub injured in the Tamarack Fire while recovering at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

CDFW required Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care to make several improvements to its facility enclosures and fencing as part of the permit renewal process to possess bears.

Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is just one of four wildlife rehabilitation facilities in the state permitted to care for black bear cubs, joining Gold Country Wildlife Rescue in Auburn, Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue in Santa Rosa and the San Diego Humane Society’s facility in Ramona.

Wildlife watchers kept a close eye on this orphaned black bear cub from Tulare County before it was eventually captured and transferred to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care in South Lake Tahoe for rehabilitation and preparation for eventual release into the wild. Photo courtesy of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

The South Lake Tahoe facility plays an outsized role in bear rehabilitation given its decades of experience and its location in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the area being a continual source of human-bear conflicts and bear issues of all kinds – from wildfires to vehicle strikes on busy Lake Tahoe-area roads.

The fortifications to its bear enclosures are just the beginning of several improvements coming to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care as part of a planned expansion effort.

The facility has met and exceeded a $500,000 matching grant that will fund construction of a new wildlife animal hospital and care unit. The new facility will feature animal hospital services, a neonatal nursery, operating room and recovery rooms, along with other care and treatment spaces needed for a full-service wildlife veterinary hospital, including 24-hour care services. When completed, rescued native wildlife in the Lake Tahoe Basin can be cared for in the region’s first dedicated wildlife animal hospital. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2022.

Property damage caused by black bears in South Lake Tahoe during the Caldor Fire evacuation. CDFW photo.

Caldor Fire evacuees returning to the South Lake and West Shore areas of Lake Tahoe should be aware that bears have been seeking out human food sources during the evacuation and taking advantage of the lack of human presence. As you approach your residence, look and listen carefully for signs that a bear has been or is in your home. If a bear is in your home, call 911. Do not attempt to chase it out yourself. Your safety is your responsibility!

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) encourages residents to make repairs to damage caused by bears as soon as possible. Easy access and a food reward encourages bears to keep coming back looking for more. Never leave food or water out for bears. It is illegal, for one, and can lead to escalating problem behaviors such as break-ins and human-bear contact that may result in death of that bear. Learn more about how to keep the Tahoe Basin’s black bears healthy and wild in the aftermath of the Caldor Fire here: wildlife.ca.gov/News/returning-tahoe-evacuees-visitors-urged-to-secure-properties-resist-providing-food-and-water-to-bears

The following CDFW images show some of the additional property damage caused by black bears in South Lake Tahoe during the Caldor Fire evacuation.