Deputies kill bear near South Lake Tahoe
El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies on the morning of Dec. 2 shot and killed what they called an aggressive bear.
Deputies said a 700- to 800-pound bear in the area of Minniconjou and Susquehana drives on the outskirts of South Lake Tahoe had been disrupting the neighborhood for several weeks by breaking into multiple residences.
Loud noises and less lethal beanbag rounds were unsuccessfully used to shoo the bear away.
Deputies said when the bear moved aggressively toward them that is when they shot it.
In the past year, deputies responded to 177 bear related calls, of which 23 were located in the same neighborhood as Wednesday’s incident. All but this one was resolved with the use of non-lethal measures.
Calls have been left with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to find out if this is the same bear that was found in Meyers and taken to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Is this related to an earlier story about a dead bear being “found” in Meyers?
This is a different bear than the one found dead in Meyers. The Meyers bear was a yearling. Also I think that the size estimate is a bit high on the bear EDCSO shot.
Here comes the CYA with the authorities. They make it sound like they responded to 23 calls from this bear when we all know many bears walk through here.
And now we have someone saying the size of this 800 lb bear is an exaggeration.
And of course, this bear was aggressive and had to be shot. Sounds to me like the EDSC deputy over reacted and now it’s a big CYA for all of them.
how sad. this big bruin walked through my yard many times. i saw him one day napping under one of my trees. he was a gentle giant, just minding his business as he lumbered along. it was an absolute joy to watch him, he was so big and beautiful. i don’t understand people’s mentality when they think killing our bears is the answer. why can’t we co-exist with the precious wildlife we live with here in our beautiful Tahoe home. i wonder how long it will take until all the bears are long gone and we look back and wish they were still around. EDSO shame on you!
How many of these incidents were at vacation rentals ? How many of the incidents were bears in trash, cars with food in them, second homes with food left in them and even people feeding the bears ? Instead of shooting a bear start shooting people who attract the bears !
The county and city are killing our bears because they are not aggressive in controlling our trash and people who attract the bears by feeding or leaving food where bears can smell it.
Not taking sides but none of you were there. Pretty easy to judge from an arm chair. I do agree the size may have been embellished a bit.
Bear vs deputy death match. Donut trophy.
Before this thread runs entirely away, good job, Deputies. It ain’t easy, and the forum knuckleheads don’t help any.
This bear was our neighborhood friend…he was NOT aggressive in any way and if he had been in trash I can guarantee it’s the fault of the MANY vacationers who are notorious for irresponsible trash disposal.
We locals know better and love our bears…
It is so disappointing that tourists are usually the ones to blame for our bears’ demise. I wish there was more effort on the vacation industry to make it clear that the bears were here first and we need to RESPECT the nature we enjoy so much…
This story makes me very sad indeed :(
I encountered this bear a few weeks ago walking my dog very early in the morning on Koyukon. It was very big, one of the biggest I have seen in the forty years I have lived here. It showed no interest in us and wandered off. As Kit Carson mentioned we were not there so we cannot say if the Deputies were really in danger but I do know that a lot of the vacation homes do not have bear proof garbage containers and many visitors leave trash bags out expecting someone else to clean up after them. As always it is the wildlife that suffers because of man’s laziness and indifference.
UNAFRAID DOES NOT = FRIENDLY
Unafraid does not = friendly.
Sad to read this . This bear was a frequent visitor in the neighborhood . He wasn’t aggressive to us , although I did hear of him breaking into homes . I wish we could learn to live with these animals .
Residents that don’t like bears or other wildlife should move to Elk Grove or Rancho Cordova or Stockton or similar, where one’s daily life is much more predictable.
Deputy ,You were so trigger happy, Shame on you, There is not one bear here that has harmed anyone,Shame ,shame , shame.
I’ll take the bear over anything from Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Stockton, Sacto or the like.
Make bear boxes or the equivalent mandatory.
This bear was another victim of the Tahoe Trash problem. It is unconscionable that our leaders have not taken the steps necessary to be good stewards. Sign ordinances and parking meters seem more important to them than non human life.
Some of you are hitting on part of the solution, that is bear proof garbage containers, and yes it should be mandatory and not cheap. Perhaps STR can give some incentives to put them in SLT, like STPUD giving credit if you put in low flow toilets. Well the real problem is these bears are starving, I don’t know how we can fix that. Bears would be in hybernation by now, but with the left out garbage easy pickens they are out year round. If your getting your garbage cans constantly raided, please consider installing one of these. I have not had one bear problem for over ten years since I put mine in and no regrets paying the money.
It seems to me the sheriff’s involved displayed very bad judgment and took out an innocent creature, I have for years had bear walk right by me as well as my neighbors had, they really don’t care about us, they mind their own business. But watch out when the cute little cubs come around, that’s when it can get very dangerous.
300 pounds is embellishing. 500 pounds is lying. 800 pounds is a cover up! So let’s work backwards from the cover up that the bear moved aggressively, to the lie it put the officers in danger, to the truth-the bear looked at a trigger happy sheriff.
I may not have been there, but if they falsified the size of the victim, they probably lied about shotgun bean bags not working them. I have pelted more than a dozen bears with pain balls and not one stuck around for more than a second. Arm people with paintball guns and I bet it will drive down the instances of bear encroachment.
So where is Ann Aka bear hugger in all of this? Something ain’t right if there is silence coming from the bear league. JohnnyGP is right. I smell a big fat cover up. If your afraid of bears get out of here people. And this goes for the coward sheriff that shot this bear.
it amazes me that you folks care about this Bear more than you care about the injustice of the fellow who was shoot in the bathroom window.
it reminds me of when a Bear broke into a friends house back in 07, the Bear made a mess of the house,my friend says don’t call the Sheriff I don’t want the Bear to get in trouble.
So if we all install a bear proof trash bin the massive bear population will go into the forest and eat berries?
Chief,
I don’t recall any unarmed guy being shot in the backside while stuck in the bathroom window. What are you talking about?
Where are all the nasty comments from Ann at the cub club and all her minions on this one? If this was over in Nevada they would be all over this like flies on $hit labeling the sheriffs department murderers.
@Clancy; https://www.laketahoenews.net/2015/08/medical-records-state-officer-shot-suspect-in-back/
Hey folks Ann and the cub club say it’s ok to kill bears in California but if you kill bears in Nevada they will ruin your life and call you a murderer,
From the Bear League’s FB page;
‘Bear Killed by Eldorado County Sheriff’s Deputies on Wednesday’ BEAR League was shocked to hear such news because this county is very pro bear and has no record of ever having done such a thing. The Lt invited us to meet with him to discuss the details so now, after gathering the facts, we are prepared to make a statement as to what we believe happened. The bear, who we know well, was sleeping under a house and was ‘evicted’ by the officers using bean bag rounds. He then, being slightly disoriented and quite fearful, frantically searched for a new place to hide. Due to his size and sleepy state (and being a bear who year after year has always hibernated under a building) he tried to dive under another house nearby. The Deputies again fired bean bags at him. Now he is desperate to escape their pursuit and finds yet another inviting deck to dive under but the men with guns are in the pathway leading to that perceived safe haven. He ignores them and heads in the direction he feels will be safe but his action is mistaken by the officers as an ‘aggressive charge’ and live lethal rounds are immediately fired and he is killed. All of the officers are familiar with bears, none of them are ‘new’ to the area, they have all worked with bears many times in the past and we feel they would never have resorted to this response had they not been fully convinced the bear was attempting to harm them. This was most unfortunate but we understand. Moving forward, the BEAR League will train all EDSO officers on Bear Aversion and Bear Body Language in the near future. We believe our long-term excellent relationship will continue despite this disturbing, and unnecessary death. (another reason to be sure crawl spaces under homes are securely closed up tight)
AROD you beat me to the punch in posting our, The BEAR League’s, official statement regarding the bear shooting by an El Dorado County Sheriff Deputy on Wednesday.
We at the BEAR League have an excellent relationship with the EDCSO and SLTPD and will continue to do so in the future. As is stated above we are very heartbroken by this unfortunate event but we will continue to be strong supporters of the EDCSO and will continue to be a strong partner with them as it pertains to creating a community that can easily coexist with our local wildlife.
Toogee Sielsch
BEAR League Member and Trained Bear Aversion Specialist
A real shame. When will Tahoe learn a lesson from our neighbors in Mammoth Lakes and REQUIRE bear proof containers?
Once again an inaccurate post from the cub club. Meeks Bay in 08.
http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/25946574.html
This bear lived in our neighborhood and was, without a doubt, not aggressive. Yes, it was creating problems and breaking into homes. We can all agree that vacation and second home owners, where food garbage is not secured, caused this problem. Regardless, the bear did not deserve to have its head blown off, which is what happened. From our property, we witnessed the cops chasing this bear around, repeatedly shooting it with rubber bullets. This went on for weeks. The officers had no problem chasing the bear onto our property and shooting the bear there, very close to our house and dogs (which were on the other side of our fence). I have never been worried about the bear, but I was concerned that we had cops nervously running around shooting rubber bullets on our property. Completely unnecessary. After what I witnessed, I am extremely skeptical that the cops lives were threatened and that they acted in self defense. In addition, if your only plan is to chase the bear around and shoot it with rubber bullets, then you shouldn’t be shocked if the bear gets upset eventually. Why was the Bear League or Lake Tahoe Wildlife center not called? Why was no effort made to trap and release the bear elsewhere? Clearly, the cops involved were not competent enough to handle this situation.
Don’t the cops have better things to do than chase bears around the neighborhood, shooting at it? Very, very difficult to believe that the bear threatened their lives. Pathetic.
Apparently they do not have better things to do, Steve. We saw them shooting the bear with rubber bullets on two separate occasions, two weeks apart. They had no strategy and no idea what they were doing. One can only assume that this happened a lot more than two times if we saw it twice and we are often not home during the day.
Steve and Anonymous: I wasn’t there to see and report exactly what happened. Were you in this instance? Because you know what ASSUME stands for.
You make no positive comment that the Deps used rubber bullets rather than lethal ones until now. You only whine about it. I suggest the both of you step into their shoes for a while and then see what YOUR decisions are. Good luck with that one. You will fail miserably…..and that’s no assumption.
No excuses ,Wrong way to do it, Trigger happy ,I say it over , and over again, Wrong way ,and how he did it ,NO EXCUSES .
“this bear didn’t get to 700 lbs by eating grubs and berries in the wild”
“put some blame on yourself for allowing this bear to live in your neighborhood.”
I love bears, I just love my grandchildren and dogs more and I repeat.
Unafraid does not mean friendly!
Anonymous and Steve, If sheriffs were chasing that bear around for weeks with non lethal rounds they were doing their job and a good one at that!!! Your blaming the second homeowners and sheriffs incompetence for this bears death when you should be putting some of the blame on yourself and your full time neighbors for allowing this bear to take up residence in your neighborhood for years. Did you do anything to make this bear feel uncomfortable around your neighborhood and humans? Probably not. Why didn’t you call the cub club?
A few of the guys at the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office are idiots…and I LIKE cops! Two of them team up and are bullies to the locals in Meyers–they know who they are…as do many residents. One jumped back when my 12 year old lab approached, and almost shot her. She can barely walk and wouldn’t hurt a fly. Some of these guys need to take the psych test again and be re-evaluated. Seriously. So tired of our bears being murdered…there is always some lame-*** justification. I’m more concerned about some of these bullies than any bear.
Omen, murder is when one HUMAN kills another HUMAN. If they are YOUR bears then YOU should be responsible for damages to homes when YOUR bear destroys their home.
West Side, why do you hate bears? Do you feel that you as a human should displace any wildlife because they may cause you a little inconvenience at times?
West Side: I couldn’t agree more.
Level, Who said I hate bears? I don’t hate bears at all!! I dislike people that consider them neighborhood pets, name them, and make comments biased on emotions and not reality. Then blame someone else for it. People need to start putting the fear of humans back in them if they care so much about them and showing some tough love. Its simple. Bears that are allowed to live in a residential area will get in trouble whether you like it or not and then they will be put down sooner or later. Until the wackos from the cub club can train “THEIR” bears to stay out of peoples homes unfortunately bears are going to die.
Thats funny, You say the cub club, People need to not train bears, There not circus Bears, There bears ,and bears do what bears do, It us up to us to do what is right, and train people for the bears.
KIT CARSON … Your comment does not really warrant a response, but I’ll respond anyway. I was very clear about what I saw and what I didn’t see. Based on the outcome, I think it is safe say that the officers failed in this instance. I also clearly stated that the officers were using rubber bullets when we saw them. To be honest, your writing is so poor that I can’t completely understand what your point is to begin with.
Again, step into their shoes and report back.
West Side … Thanks for the lecture on bear deterrence. I completely agree that bears should not be welcomed into neighborhoods. I can’t speak for every permanent resident of our neighborhood, but most of us understand that. Our house is not bear friendly. We have dogs that make it clear that bears are not welcome and we make sure no food is accessible to them.
Second home owners and vacation home owners are to blame, because that is where bears eat. If there was no food accessible in Tahoe neighborhoods, bears would not try to live in them. It is that simple.
I support non lethal bear deterrence, but in this instance their tactics were clearly not going to be effective from the beginning. Rather than changing their course of action or calling the Bear League, the officers shot the bear in the head. Presumably this happened when the bear finally got upset, but who knows. Maybe they just got tired of dealing with it. I find it hard to believe that their lives were threatened by the slowest moving bear I have ever seen, possibly the slowest moving bear that ever existed.
I also agree that the Cub Club, or Bear League, should have been called. The lesson to gain from this is NOT to call the police since they are not capable of appropriately handling the situation. I am confident that if the Bear League or Lake Tahoe Wildlife Center had been called, the results would have been different.
Making this bear your “neighborhood friend” got it killed. Stop acting like these are your pets and letting them hibernate on your property. If you had been responsible mountain residents, instead of pretending you live in a zoo, and had made the proper steps towards scaring this bear back where it belongs then it would still be alive. Wild animals do not belong in residential areas. This is not and will never be healthy for them. Had it not been EDCSO that killed this bear, a resident, car, some anti-freeze in your garage, something would have eventually gotten to it. Stop spreading food on your bear statues for your photo ops, and scare them off like you are supposed to. Otherwise you’ll have to suck it up when they become a danger and have to be put down. Bears are dangerous in general, but imagine coming home and startling a bear in your kitchen. It’s only a matter of time before something tragic happens.
“When bears are allowed to live in residential areas”…bwahaha. Thanks for the laugh West Side. That bear has probably been walking these forests for longer than some of those guys have been alive. Shoot bean-bags at it and it will obviously become aggressive…hello! This is the mentality that should be of concern. If you act like an a-hole, expect to get that in return…by people or bears.
If this bear was a nuisance and they had been dealing with it for a long time, it simply should have been relocated. Instead, cops get called, THEY get aggressive, get scared, and kill it.
If a bear is a danger to PEOPLE, then of course it is of concern, but this was just a truly pathetic way of handling it.
I had a Bear in my house several years ago EDSCO did a great job getting him out with no damage to the house or bear. Called the bear league to get some advice the next day and they hung up on me when I told them I called the EDCSO. So from my experience I would recommend the EDCSO but that’s just me.
Omen, glad I could make you laugh. By the way the average life of a black bear in the wild is 15 to 20 years. Sometimes longer according to Google. So I doubt that bear has been walking the forest for longer than those sheriffs have been alive. Oh, California doesn’t relocate bears either. How would you handle a 700lb+ bear denned up under your house? Give him a pat on the back of the head and tell him time to move along?
West Side when you talk about 700lb black bears you lose all credibility.
Carl, You must have told them who you are.
Here Ya go Level. It sounds plausible to me. Especially this time of year when they are fat and ready for winter.
http://www.bear.org/website/the-nabc/meet-our-bears/teds-page/95-how-big-is-ted.html
Level, The biggest in Yosemite. 690 lbs.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/bear-facts.aspx
The Yosemite bears are pretty well chaperoned and have not been living on white bread and donuts like Lake Tahoe bears. That alone would account for the 10 extra pounds ‘our’ bears are sporting.
” We believe our long-term excellent relationship will continue despite this disturbing, and unnecessary death”
Ha, ha!! Since when? Ann Whacko has been an irritation for YEARS.
Agreed Kit! Around 10 years ago That woman told my neighbor that if he got a depredation permit for a bear that broke into his house 4 nights in a row, he would be forced to leave the community and would never work in this town again. Along with some other completely vile and unnecessary comments towards him. She is one those that should use super glue instead of chap stick.
the Nevada state record Black Bear was 600 lbs.
he was living under the porch at Mr. Shillings new house just above the Chart House.
12 gauge slugs sent that Bear to Bear Heaven.
Kit Carson is “spot on” with his comment. Additionally, when you look at the calls for service regarding bears and the end result of those calls, certainly the bears have been dealt with non lethal force in an overwelming number of contacts. Keep in mind those are only the reported contacts and who knows what the number of unreported contacts are.
The entire situation sucks but don’t critique when you were not there. Maybe this bear has been messed with so much because he is a larger bear that he had enough, who knows.
You want to end these scenarios? Then EVERYONE get bear boxes for trash.
Kit Carson is “spot on” with his comment. Additionally, when you look at the calls for service regarding bears and the end result of those calls, certainly the bears have been dealt with non lethal force in an overwelming number of contacts. Keep in mind those are only the reported contacts and who knows what the number of unreported contacts are.
The entire situation sucks but don’t critique when you were not there. Maybe this bear has been messed with so much because he is a larger bear that he had enough,
You want to end these scenarios? Then EVERYONE get bear boxes for trash.
Another bear lost it’s life by another aggressive sheriff. Unfortunate, maybe we should realize we are on their land and be more responsible when it comes to NOT attracting bears. Seems like calling the police to respond is the lazy irresponsible way of learning how to coexist with wildlife, especially since we live on their habitat. Some people and cops like to use their guns when it’s not necessary, that’s why this country is working to take away guns, and that is karma for everyone. Get a freaking bear box and grow up, they have excellent memory, if you block easy accessible trash the bear will not return.