Conflict bear euthanized in Meyers - two cubs transported to rehabilitation facility

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It's the story nobody wants to hear - the trapping of a conflict bear that leads to its being euthanized. There was no happy ending like that experienced by Hank (Henrietta) the Tank) in 2022. This was a female bear recently trapped whose DNA was linked to 12 incidents of significant property damage and home invasions at many different properties in different locations.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said they received several depredation permit requests from multiple property owners in the Meyers area of Lake Tahoe on this one bear.

She was always seen with her two cubs, teaching them the habits of finding food in homes, vehicles, and trash cans instead of out in the wild. Her two cubs were also captured and CDFW staff took them to an undisclosed permitted, wildlife rehabilitation facility. There they will be cared for and ultimately released back to the wild once they are old enough and big enough to care for themselves, said Peter Tira, CDFW Information Officer.

Based on DNA, Tira said this particular mother bear had a long history of break-ins in the Meyers area where she was captured, and elsewhere.

CDFW issued at least two depredation permits on this bear, and traps were put out. Property owners have to apply to CDFW for depredation permits. While the agency issues the permits, they do not carry out the permit or do the trapping. Property owners then have to handle that themselves, which means they typically work with federal trappers, sometimes county trappers, to actually catch the offending animal, said Tira. He said in this case, trappers caught the offending bear, confirmed her to be the right bear through DNA evidence, and then humanely euthanized.

Tira said the property owners who applied for the permits had been doing everything right and everything possible to prevent bear conflicts. Permits aren't given casually and measures have to be taken to prevent future conflict before a depredation permit will be granted. A depredation permit is a measure of last resort. When these permits are requested, they are thoroughly reviewed, and several steps are taken to ensure the permit is warranted.

"There are some bears such as this one that learn to break into homes and there is nothing that can be done to stop them," said Tira.

"The level of behavior within some of our urbanized bears is not only alarming but that behavior is being taught to the cubs of the year," said South Lake Tahoe urbanized black bear expert Toogee Sielsch. "There is no maliciousness behind this behavior, but it's creating more and more highly dangerous human/bear confrontations. We need to address this situation sooner rather than later."

Once a depredation permit is issued there is only one possible outcome if the trapped bear is identified as the conflict bear – euthanasia. This is explained to those who request the permits. In many instances, however, a permit is issued, traps are set, but no bear – or not the correct bear – is caught and the permit expires. Any non-target bears are safely released (back in wild habitat if caught in a neighborhood). Depredation permits are not open-ended, meaning there is a limited window or time frame during which they can be carried out and there typically are other conditions and stipulations added to the permit.

CDFW will trap bears for other purposes, like to catch an orphaned cub, relocate a wayward bear, or trap for research projects such as their Trap, Tag, Haze program. Tira said a bear deemed a public safety threat by CDFW law enforcement division may also be trapped and euthanized, but that is not the situation that was in Meyers, nor action taken as part of a “depredation permit.”

If caught, grown bears are very rarely transferred to a zoo, or refuge facility, due to multiple rules and regulations. Hank (Henrietta) was a very rare case.

To keep bears from learning bad behaviors and ending up in a trap it is up to all humans to be educated. There are several resources:

Keep Tahoe Bears Wild - https://www.tahoebears.org/about
CDFW - https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Black-Bear
The Bear League - https://savebears.org/
Live Responsibly with Bears - https://bearwise.org/