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.