Two more bear cubs brought to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care

It's not a record breaking year for bear cubs at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, yet. Two more cubs were brought to the care facility on July 9 from the Paradise, California area, bringing the total of cubs now at LTWC to eight.

The new cubs are named Paradise 1 and Paradise 2, as with all of the other cubs they take on the names from the area they were living. As of today they have these two, along with Bieber 1 and 2, Conway 1 and 2, Meyers and Tahoe who was named before knowing that she came from the Northern California coastal area.

The male cub arrived weighing in at 22 with his sister at 19 pounds. She required some sutures so will be kept alone in the Bobcat Cage while she heals. The Bear Cage, which has capacity for eight, will almost have a full house with seven.

Tom Milham, Co-Founder of LTWC with his wife Cheryl, said that in 2012 they had 9 bears at one time and they could take in a total of 12 if necessary (with four able to be housed in the bobcat cage).

Since 2000, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care has taken in 66 bears, 28 of those in just the past four years.

The bears are all black bears though one at the facility actually has black hair, a first for them according to Milham. Most of the bears they've housed have had brown fur.

All eight cubs will spend several months with LTWC. Those coming from the Sierras will be returned close to where they were found by Fish & Game officials and placed in a den in January or February, and those from lower elevations will be returned in spring.

The bears can watched at play on the LTWC website. There is also a spot on the site to donate money to help with the large food bill they are facing since the cubs will soon be eating about $100 worth of food per week.