This young black bear escaped from a wildlife facility in South Lake Tahoe late last week.
Courtesy of the California Department of Fish and WildlifeOfficials ask the public to be on the lookout for a black bear that escaped from a wildlife facility in South Lake Tahoe late last week and remains at large.
Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told SFGATE that the bear, which is estimated to be 12 or 13 months old, got out of an outdoor enclosure at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care on Thursday night. It had been living there since December. Tira said the bear was transferred to the center for rehabilitation after wildlife officials discovered it on private property in Seiad Valley in Siskiyou County, where they determined that it had been orphaned and was “severely underweight.”
Since its arrival at the facility, the bear appeared to show signs of recovery, gaining more than 30 pounds, though Tira noted it was a bit of a recluse and avoided the other cubs living there.
“It does not like people at all — which is a good survival skill for black bears in the wild,” he told SFGATE.
The black bear population in the Tahoe Basin is thriving. Though Tira did not have an exact figure, he said researchers have determined it is among the highest densities ever recorded in North America. (The USDA estimates 25,000 to 35,000 black bears live in California.) The young bear might be capable of surviving on its own, but officials are worried about how it might be affected by Tahoe’s extreme weather as it tries to find its next meal. Heavy snow and rain, coupled with some of the coldest temperatures the region has seen in a decade, have resulted in road closures and precarious conditions for traveling, as well as concerns for vulnerable populations and pets.
“There is a lot of snow still on the ground — I believe it snowed again as recently as late last week — so it’s not an ideal time for a young bear to be out foraging and looking for food given the winter conditions,” Tira said. “We suspect it is in hiding at the moment and will get active as it gets hungry, which may also be our best time to locate it and return it to care.”
The CDFW is still investigating the circumstances surrounding the bear’s escape, but a Facebook post from the Bear League, a nonprofit that protects bears in the region, said it had “climbed up the huge snow piles and miraculously made it over the security fence.”
The bear has brown fur — black bears can come in a variety of colors, Tira noted — and has a metal tag in its right ear labeled 1028. People are discouraged from actively searching for the bear or approaching it, as it can be “extremely skittish.” Sightings should be reported to the CDFW at 916-358-2917 or Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care at 530-577-2273.
“It is not in any kind of imminent danger and is certainly no threat to the public,” Tira said.