Beyond stunning views, world-class skiing, and great mountain-lake experiences, the Lake Tahoe area is known for its abundance of black bears. Hundreds of bears are known to live in the area, seeking out food, mating, and hibernating remarkably close to people and their homes.
Black bears in the Lake Tahoe Basin are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they’ll eat just about anything they can get. In the wild, this usually means plants, berries, carrion, and more, but it can mean something entirely different in or around neighborhoods. Black bears have an incredible sense of smell and are remarkably intelligent. While they typically try to avoid people, they can quickly learn to associate humans with food, creating undesirable behavior as they access trash, coolers, vehicles, or anything else that might contain their lunch.
Because of their intelligence and tendency to turn toward human food sources, the Lake Tahoe region, and just about anywhere that’s home to black bears, encourages both residents and visitors to take the necessary steps to keep all food, trash, and attractants secure out out of their reach. People must use bear resistant garbage cans and should wait to put garbage out until the morning of collection. Windows should be closed and doors should be locked, and fruit trees, hanging bird feeders and beehives must be managed to avoid attracting the animals. Additionally, cars should be locked and all scented items, whether it’s food, lip balm, or scented air fresheners, should be removed from the vehicle.
Even a locked roof box isn’t safe from a prying black bear, as the video below, shared to the “I Love Lake Tahoe” Facebook Page, demonstrates. If they smells food and have a way to get at it, there’s a good chance they will.
When bears do access human food sources and become more conditioned and comfortable around people, human-bear interactions increase. Tragically once this happens bears are usually eliminated to prevent further and more dangerous interactions, so make sure to secure all foods, garbage, and recycling, put away bird feeders when bears are active, clean and store all grills and smokers, and never leave pet food outside. You can read more on bear safety and being “BearWise” here.
