Not a good week for bears in South Lake Tahoe - 3 hit and killed by cars

A cub hit and killed by a car on Keller Road Monday night makes three bears who have died in the same manner in just 10 days on the South Shore. In the last three weeks, there have been a total of five hit by cars between Tahoma, South Lake Tahoe and Meyers according to Toogee Sielsch, South Lake Tahoe bear advocate.

In Monday's incident, a vehicle hit one of the three cubs born to Hazel, a neighborhood bear that residents have named and watched over. The speed limit in the area is 25 mph.

A large bear, about 400 lbs, was hit by a car on Lake Tahoe Boulevard between the sand pits and Sawmill Pond a week ago. The speed limit in the area is 55 mph, and with the accident happening at night, drivers find it hard to see the bears.

In the same area a couple of days before, a mother bear and her cubs were crossing the road when one of the cubs was hit and killed.

These three accidental deaths follow two others a few weeks ago, one on South Upper Truckee near SR89 and other other by Homewood.

Sielsch says he hasn't heard of any increased bear activity, but with the high heat there are bears out looking for food, and they're finding it courtesy of apartment dumpsters and household trash left out the night before trash pickup days. The bears have stopped eating grass recently and have turned to dumpster diving. Smells from the trash receptacles increase in the heat like a beacon to the bears.

He said the bears are just trying to beat the heat like humans are.

Since Sielsch started posting photos and information of the killed bears on social media, he says emotions tend to run high when one is killed.

"We can't assume what happened and even I don't know," said Sielsch. "They are accidents, they do happen and its a bummer."

He also said that the bears would stay away from the city if trash weren't so available with the biggest culprits being apartment dumpsters.

If a bear was reproducing in the wild, without food close by, she'd self-regulate the birth weight by the environment. There used to be just one to two cubs born to a mother each year, and now its 3-4. Sielsch said he is noticing more mom bears with cubs as well.

"It is not a tourist problem, it is a local's problem," said Sielsch of bears existing as they do, feeding on trash. With those sources around 52 weeks a year, he said it is obvious who the culprits are. He also said he knows of two residents who continue to feed the bears

Sielsch also said, according to South Tahoe Refuse, that they have 75-100 animal spills on garbage routes daily. While these aren't just bear, it shows how proper handling of trash will help fix the problem.

He did a rough count of bears living in the South Lake Tahoe City limits this spring and has the number at 19. And come fall, many of those will be in the Bijou area or the D Street area.

Lock trash up, lock cars up, and the problem goes away, and perhaps bears won't be hit and killed by cars.