Bear cubs who wintered in South Lake Tahoe head back home

Hoopa and Salyer, two bear cubs who have been at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care since the end of December, left their winter home Thursday and are now headed to the Hoopa Indian Reservation near Eureka, CA.

Salyer was just 24 pounds when he arrived in South Lake Tahoe from Salyer, CA, and Hoopa, who was found at the Reservation, was 25 pounds when she arrived.

Normally Tom and Cheryl Milham, founders of the South Shore wildlife care operation, would put bears into hibernation at that time of year. Both of the cubs were underweight and didn't have enough body fat to survive the long period of sleep so they spent the winter eating. The Milham's goal was to have each bear get to 50 pounds before being released back into the wild. Sayler and Hoopa each surpassed that goal and gained 48 pounds each (Tom attributed that to Cheryl's good cooking.)

Though not siblings, the two bears have played together over the past 4.5 months and are being released together. The U.S. Fish and Game Department releases bears into the area they are from, and both Sayler and Hoopa came from areas 20 miles apart.

After a record year of having bears at LTWC, Tom and Cheryl and now empty-nesters. All bears have been released either back into their natural habitat, or in the case of Heavenly, to a wildlife sanctuary.

"We usually have a break between seasons, but we have had bears constantly since June of 2013," said Tom Milham.

Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is moving to a new home at the corner of Al Tahoe Blvd and Pioneer Trail. Tom Milham said they are waiting on a couple of permits and hope to break ground in the next two months. It is expected to take two years to complete the project which is spread over 27 acres and will be home to a full scale wildlife rehabilitation center, an area to view the care and treatment of injured wildlife, a wildlife sanctuary that provides free-roaming areas within natural habitat, and a long-term home for animals and birds that cannot be reintroduced into the wild. There will also be a caretaker's home, gift shop and demonstration center.

The non-profit received good news from South Tahoe Public Utility District. Their sewer allocation expenses were reduced by 25%. By waiting until after June 7 to break ground, they will save $42,000.

The whole project will cost about $6 million but Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care wants to raise $9 million according to Milham. He said they'd use the extra to go into an endowment fund where they can operate off the interest.

Bears will think they're living a life of luxury in the new location. Not only will they have a 2,400 square foot outdoor play area complete with trees and jungle gyms, there will now be four play cubicles. The total bear area at the Milham home now will be able to fit in just one of the new play spaces.

An expansion of the bird area is also included in the new plans. Their space will go from one 24' x 8' flight area to four areas, 25' x 15' each. The new home will also include 10 areas for housing instead of the three they currently have. Not all species can live together since some are predators of others (eagles can live together but not the hawks or owls).

"Things will be bigger and better," according to Tom Milham. "It's going to fantastic and we're looking forward to it. These are exciting times!"

To donate to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care for their continuing operations and housing fund, please visit this page.