Bear Naked Truth

Map of documented bear responses from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department from Aug. 18 through Nov. 4, 2021. Map courtesy of South Lake Tahoe PD.

The following post was written with the best information CDFW had at the time. Since this post was published, new information has come to light regarding incidents in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood. Please see the February 24, 2022, post "DNA Evidence Prompts Revised Response to Tahoe Keys Bear Incidents" for the most updated information.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is conducting a special trapping effort for a specific male bear, weighing approximately 500 pounds, in the Tahoe Keys area of South Lake Tahoe. These traps represent official state business to capture a specific and “severely food-habituated bear” defined as a conflict bear under CDFW’s 2022 Black Bear Policy in California. Food-habituated means that the animal has lost its fear of people and is associating people with access to food.

For more than seven months, and despite intense hazing and other mitigation efforts, this bear has caused extensive property damage in 33 documented cases and forcefully entered at least 28 homes in and near the Tahoe Keys (see map above). This bear is extremely food-habituated and has used its immense size and strength to break in and through front doors and garage doors. There have been, at last count, 102 individual reports of local police responses to this bear, including multiple hazing events to discourage the bear from breaking into homes and seeking human food sources.

When combining CDFW data with information from local police agencies, CDFW has 152 reports of conflict behavior from this animal. This bear is readily identifiable due to its exceptionally large size and dark coat with lighter muzzle. Additionally, CDFW has collected the bear's DNA and created a DNA profile to allow for 100 percent accurate identification of the bear. All other bears captured will be ear tagged, hazed away from human food sources, and released by our wildlife professionals in the nearest appropriate habitat.

While the Lake Tahoe area has a healthy and dense bear population, euthanizing an animal is always our last option. CDFW is currently evaluating the possibility of placement of this bear when captured. As detailed in our recently updated Black Bear Policy in California, there are several requirements that must be met to consider placement of a wild adult black bear.

Placement of adult black bears can have significant negative consequences on their mental health and must be considered when evaluating placement options. To quote from our Black Bear Policy: “Adult bears may be poor candidates for placement due to the chronic stress of adjusting to captivity after living in only wild conditions." To be considered, placement facilities must be accredited, have necessary state and federal permits to receive animals, and meet CDFW's standards for quality of facilities. At the time of this post, CDFW has not identified a placement option for this bear that meets the criteria of the Black Bear Policy.

The outcome for this food-habituated bear could have been avoided with a few simple actions. Bears are primarily scent-driven when seeking food. As such, we ask again that everyone remain vigilant and act responsibly by properly storing food and garbage while living in – or visiting – bear habitat. For tips and best practices to keep Tahoe’s bears from becoming accustomed and dependent on human food sources, visit Keep Tahoe Bears Wild. Additional information and resources are available at CDFW’s Keep Me Wild: Black Bear web page.

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.

The "Kings Beach Bear's" GPS tracking collar as biologists found it this past spring on the forest floor. CDFW photo by Mark Abraham.

When California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) biologists recovered a GPS tracking collar deep within the Stanislaus National Forest in April, they suspected that was the final chapter in the saga of the “Kings Beach Bear.”

Also known as the “Safeway Bear” or the “Chevron Bear,” the big, male black bear made headlines in 2020 (YouTube) by entering local business on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore – including a Safeway and Chevron convenience store – rummaging for food and crashing Kings Beach get-togethers, helping itself to birthday cake and other treats and prompting widespread concern.

CDFW trapped the problem bear in September 2020, affixed identifying ear tags – a metal tag in its left ear numbered 1217 and a plastic orange tag in its right ear numbered 1274 – along with the GPS tracking collar and ultimately released the bear into remote wild habitat in El Dorado County.

With the bear’s tracking collar recovered last spring – with no sign or evidence of the bear otherwise – two potential outcomes were discussed. In a best-case scenario, the bear successfully transitioned to a natural diet and life in the wild, losing winter weight that allowed the GPS collar to come free. In a worse-case scenario, the old bear – estimated at more than 15 years old – was unable to adjust, lost weight and died.

The ultimate fate of the Kings Beach Bear proved much more tragic and traumatic.

In early August, a CDFW biologist and wildlife officer responded to calls of a large black bear shot and killed at a campground in Alpine County near Hermit Valley.

A large family with many small children was camping in the area when a large black bear approached their campsite repeatedly during the early evening and late hours of the night. Multiple attempts to haze the bear and shoo it away proved unsuccessful.

The campsite was clean and the family had properly stored and secured their food and garbage. Fearing for its safety, the family shot and killed the bear when it approached their campsite yet again – and reported the shooting to officials. The family was distraught when CDFW showed up to investigate.

At the scene, CDFW officials saw the 1274 orange tag in the bear’s right ear, identifying it unmistakably as the Kings Beach Bear. The bear – once weighing more than 500 pounds – was a shell of its former self, completely emaciated, its teeth rotten.

As one CDFW biologist later said, “Ultimately, the actions of the shooter was the most humane outcome for this bear.”

CDFW wildlife officers ruled the shooting justified. And CDFW biologists now have more empirical evidence and a rather traumatic case study about the ability of human food-conditioned bears to successfully transition to life in the wild.

For tips and best practices to keep Tahoe’s bears from becoming accustomed and dependent on human food sources, visit Keep Tahoe Bears Wild. Additional information and resources are available at CDFW’s Keep Me Wild: Black Bear webpage.

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.

Earlier this year, the young female black bear revels in her newfound freedom upon release into the wild following months of care and rehabilitation in captivity after being struck by a vehicle in the Lake Tahoe Basin. CDFW photo.

While they can thrill tourists and residents alike with their mere presence, antics and brazen behavior, life is no vacation for the Tahoe Basin’s black bears. They often face many more serious threats to their survival and well-being – traffic, disease, a garbage-filled diet, human conflicts and now wildfire – than many of their wildland counterparts.

That point was driven home recently when veterinarians at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) had to euthanize a year-and-a-half old female bear – one of the “South Shore Four” – released this spring back into the wild after seven months of rehabilitation at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care (LTWC). The bear arrived at LTWC in September 2020 as a 50-lb. cub suffering a broken leg after being hit by a car on Emerald Bay Road near Eloise Avenue.

Rehabbed alongside three local orphaned bear cubs – two males and one female – the young females were released together last April about 70 miles from South Lake Tahoe.

The one female with the healed hind leg was of particular concern to biologists. The cub’s mother was a known problem bear – raiding garbage cans, breaking into garages and cars – and was thought to be teaching these same behaviors to the cub before the cub was struck by a car and taken to LTWC for rehabilitation.

Outfitted with a GPS tracking collar and a No. 83 blue plastic tag in her left ear, the female bear, weighing some 150-lbs. at that point, headed almost immediately back to South Lake Tahoe, the bear’s collar sending signals from the Freel Peak area. Campers later spotted the bear in the Zephyr Cove area and South Lake Tahoe residents reported seeing the bear in the exact backyard where it was believed to have been born. The bear showed little fear of either cars or people.

Then, on May 24, the bear was found unresponsive, sprawled out on its side at the base of a tree in a residential backyard along Freel Peak Ave., leading to initial speculation that the bear had been struck once again by a vehicle. An emergency visit to a local animal hospital, however, showed no sign of trauma. The bear was returned to LTWC for care and observation.

Although the bear improved after a week, LTWC staff agreed that the bear never recovered fully. Mentally, it seemed like a different bear altogether than the one staff had cared for prior to its April release – mentally dull and lethargic.

In June, the bear was moved yet again – this time to CDFW’s Wildlife Health Lab near Sacramento for further observation and examination by CDFW veterinarians.

Given the mental dullness and its lack of fear around people, biologists and veterinarians suspected encephalitis – or inflammation of the brain – as the root cause of the bear’s problems. The neurological disorder has turned up increasingly in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s black bear population. A cause for this disorder has yet to be identified and currently there are no treatments.

At CDFW’s facilities, the female bear remained unsteady on its feet with an abnormal gait and mental dullness. Showing no signs of physical or mental improvement, the decision was made to euthanize her due to the grave prognosis for a return to normal function and release back to the wild.

A post-mortem examination to determine a cause of the physical and mental abnormalities was inconclusive. The examination showed no evidence of encephalitis or recent physical trauma but did find “degenerative changes in the brainstem.” Additionally, trace amounts of bromethalin were detected, revealing exposure to this neurotoxic rodenticide.

Still, relatively little is known about the potential effects of bromethalin in wildlife, and veterinarians were unable to determine whether it could have caused the degenerative changes in the brain or the physical and mental changes observed when the bear was alive.

CDFW biologists continue to monitor the three remaining “South Shore Four” bears in the wild. These bears are now confronting the latest threats to their survival and well-being – namely, the Caldor and Tamarack fires.