Bear Naked Truth

The weather is hot and Tahoe’s beaches are full of visitors. That also means one thing: garbage season is in full swing in the Basin. As people flock to the lake, so do the bears; many of them in search of an easy meal. And what better place to find it than garbage or unsecured food left behind by unknowing or careless visitors?

The Tahoe Interagency Bear Team (TIBT) is asking everyone to take responsibility for their trash and food. When bears get repeated food rewards with no consequences, both wildlife and people can be affected. Bears quickly learn to associate humans with food, which leads to increased sightings near homes, trailheads and beaches. This can cause human-bear conflicts with potentially serious consequences.

But beyond the immediate safety risks, trash has long-term health consequences for bears. Bears that rely on human garbage often consume non-digestible items like foil, plastic, paper and even metal. These materials can block or tear up their digestive systems and, in some cases, lead to death. Even when trash passes through, their scat lacks the seeds and nutrients needed to support Tahoe’s plant life. Over time, a trash-based diet can also cause rotting and broken teeth, making it difficult for bears to survive in the wild.

The solution is simple: Use bear-resistant garbage containers and use them properly. Not familiar with how they work? Just remember:

PUSH, LIFT, TOSS!

PUSH the tab, LIFT the door, TOSS the trash in!

Some containers may include a carabiner or latch. Please take the time to open and close them correctly. Always relatch and lock the container after use. If a bin is full, do not leave your garbage next to it. Find another container or take it home. Trash left outside a garbage can invites more litter, stresses already stretched staff and becomes a buffet for bears. It also encourages other visitors to do the same. Even a breeze can scatter trash before crews can clean it up.

Worried about a dirty handle? Use a napkin or glove. It might not seem like a big deal, but every piece of trash placed properly helps protect a bear’s life.

Lake Tahoe’s bears are wild animals. They are not garbage disposals. It’s our shared responsibility to keep them healthy, safe and wild.

For more information on coexisting with bears, visit BearWise.org or TahoeBears.org.

To report bear incidents or conflict in the Lake Tahoe Basin, use the following:

• In California, contact CDFW at 916-358-2917 or report online using the Wildlife incident Reporting (WIR) System.
• Non-emergency bear collisions in California State Parks can be reported to public dispatch at 916-358-1300.
• In Nevada, contact NDOW at 775-688-BEAR (2327).
• If the issue is an emergency, call the local sheriff’s department or 911.

Thank you for helping keep Tahoe bears wild and safe!

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has lethally removed a conflict bear that has threatened campers, damaged vehicles and destroyed commercial and residential property in the Lake Tahoe Basin consistently over the past four years.

On July 7, CDFW biologists and wildlife officers responded to requests for assistance to help aggressively haze several bears seeking human food at campgrounds in the Meeks Bay area of South Lake Tahoe.

CDFW staff were positioned to spend the night at a local campsite, situated between two popular California State Parks, to safeguard campers and keep bears away from tents, vehicles and human food sources. These efforts are part of ongoing operations, in conjunction with our partners, to provide a supportive, on-the-ground presence in order to haze bears away from populated areas. Hazing bears is an important tool to create negative conditioning to human presence, to keep bears wild and naturally fearful of people while not harming the animal.

During this hazing detail, at approximately 8 p.m., CDFW staff were notified by a concerned citizen that there was a bear causing extensive damage to an unoccupied home in the area. CDFW staff responded to this report and saw a large bear identified by its ear tag numbered 717 inside of a home. This bear, with a long history of human-wildlife conflict, was well-known to CDFW staff. The bear had been captured, tagged and relocated to wild habitat in 2021 following a series of home and vehicle break-ins. The bear quickly returned to the Lake Tahoe Basin and resumed its conflict behavior, including breaking into vehicles, businesses and charging toward campers to gain access to their food. DNA had been collected from 717, and the bear was also hazed on multiple occasions over the course of several years.

This bear had become “trap shy,” meaning that despite many attempts by CDFW to recapture the bear, it would not go into a trap. Based on its concerning behavior, property damage, and repeated negative encounters with humans, the bear was approved for lethal removal.

When CDFW staff clearly identified the bear on July 7 based on the number and color of its ear tag, it was lethally removed. As with many Tahoe bears that subsist on a diet of human food and trash, the bear had severely rotted teeth and was extremely large, estimated close to 400 pounds.

CDFW collected the bear’s skull for educational and scientific purposes and returned the animal’s remains to the forest, which mimics natural decomposition cycles and returns nutrients to the ecosystem. The bear was initially left to decompose in the forest and has since been moved to minimize accidental encounters and potential disturbance of the remains.

This unfortunate but necessary wildlife management action reinforces the need to keep bears wild and prevent them from accessing human food and garbage, which often leads to escalating conflict behavior and a threat to public safety. CDFW’s black bear policy prioritizes nonlethal conflict mitigation measures whenever possible, including eliminating bear attractants and bear-proofing structures, in order to support a healthy and thriving black bear population.

California’s Black Bear Conservation and Management Plan (PDF), updated this spring for the first time in more than two decades, outlines the best available science in order to understand the state’s bear population and make successful and effective management decisions to help black bears thrive. CDFW continues to closely monitor the state’s black bear population through the use of GPS collars, den checks, camera traps, harvested tooth samples and DNA collection.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and California State Parks have removed a bear that was a danger to public safety in South Lake Tahoe with a long history of human conflict, including multiple home invasions and vehicle break-ins.

At 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 22, the light-colored female bear, or sow, entered an occupied trailer belonging to a camper at Eagle Point Campground within Emerald Bay State Park. After being awoken by the bear trying to gain entry, the camper attempted to scare the bear off by banging pots and pans, screaming at the bear and making a loud commotion. Undeterred, the bear forced its way into the trailer and swiped at the camper, leaving her with cuts and bruises on her arms and hand and requiring an escorted trip to the hospital. Later that same morning, the bear ripped the door open on a camper-van with teenagers sleeping inside and later was reported harassing other campers within the same campground.

Following the camper attack, the bear was deemed a “Public Safety Bear” under CDFW’s 2022 Black Bear Policy in California (PDF) and targeted for immediate removal. The bear was located in the vicinity of the Eagle Point Campground the following day, June 23, and euthanized by a State Parks ranger. DNA testing confirmed it was the same bear responsible for the attack.

CDFW and California State Parks had been attempting to trap the bear since June 17. The sow’s two cubs of the year have been captured and delivered to a wildlife rehabilitation facility in northern California in the hope they can be rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

“As wildlife professionals who devote our careers to the health and well-being of California’s fish and wildlife species, euthanasia is a measure of last resort,” said Morgan Kilgour, regional manager for CDFW’s North Central Region. “Our foremost responsibility, however, remains the protection of human life and the safety of the Tahoe region.”

Since the spring, the sow had generated multiple 911 emergency calls and unrelenting conflict activity. DNA evidence linked the bear to multiple attempted home and vehicle break-ins along Cascade Road in South Lake Tahoe and many confrontations at the Eagle Point Campground.

On June 10, the bear entered an occupied vehicle at the campground with a child fastened to a child seat inside.

The bear had been unresponsive to multiple attempts to haze it out of human-occupied areas. The bear had been aggressively hazed by four different agencies, including CDFW, State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service on at least seven different occasions, yet the conflict behavior persisted.

“California State Parks is really the gold standard when it comes to human-bear conflict prevention,” said Kilgour. “There is nothing State Parks could or should have done differently at Emerald Bay State Park. State Parks is a model with their well-maintained bear boxes and other bear-proof infrastructure and clean campgrounds. They do a thorough job of educating their visitors and camp hosts on preventing human-bear conflicts.”

CDFW hopes for a better outcome for the sow’s two 5-month-old cubs now at a wildlife rehabilitation facility permitted to care for and rehabilitate bears.

“Bear cubs learn everything from their mothers – good and bad behavior alike,” Kilgour explained. “A mother bear that constantly searches human-occupied areas for unnatural food sources, breaks into homes and vehicles teaches this behavior to her cubs and perpetuates another generation of human-bear conflict. Removing these cubs from this conflict activity early in their lives gives them a chance that they can return to the wild and live as wild bears should.”

Photos: The female bear euthanized by officials had a long history of home invasions and vehicle break-ins in South Lake Tahoe stretching over two years. The sow destroyed the vehicle door above trying to gain entry.