Our community is at a crossroads/tipping point of sorts regarding our relationship with black bears. We as an entire community have two choices: 1) work together, and that includes working with the two local state wildlife agencies to mitigate the nonstop trajectory of the ever-increasing human/bear conflict issue, or 2) continue the status quo with people going out of their way to create an adversarial relationship between the community and those wildlife agencies. 

First of all, I would like to establish that we all agree that this is a human-caused issue. Having said that, not every human/bear conflict incident is caused by the human involved in a given conflict situation. And to be sure, there is no malice on the part of the bear in any of these situations, but that doesn’t negate the fact that certain elevated levels of conflict behavior can turn into very dangerous situations waiting to happen. 

Last week, we witnessed a literal flash mob armed with passion and proverbial pitchforks when a California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) employee responded to a call for bears in a house. The CDFW employee evicted the family of two, hazed them, treed them, and then prevented the house from burning down after one of the bears had inadvertently turned the stove on. She did this armed with nothing more than a paintball gun. The mob was sent there under the pretense that this CDFW employee was “preparing to shoot the bears.” This CDFW employee literally had to be escorted to her vehicle by law enforcement because of the threats coming from the mob. I’m deeply disappointed in those members of the community who were misinformed enough to go to that extreme.

The very same folks who spurred this flash mob on often try to obfuscate the truth as it pertains to the actual job and mission of both CDFW and the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW). The inference that the frontline bear biologists working for both of these agencies are blood thirsty bear killers is as far from the truth as possible. I have been in the field shoulder to shoulder with every front-line bear biologist from both California and Nevada who work within the Lake Tahoe Basin, and these biologists deeply care about the wildlife species they are tasked with managing. I can also tell you that these professionals have no love for the hardest part of their job, a bear’s lethal removal from the environment. Before I go on, let me define “removal from environment”. In terms of bear management, “removal from environment” can encompass three scenarios: 1) lethal action taken to mitigate the pain and suffering of an adult black bear with fatal injuries; 2) rescue of orphaned or injured cubs of the year that are sent to a wildlife rehabilitation facility; or 3) lethal action taken against a hard-core conflict bear with DNA data documenting behavior identifying the target bear to be removed, for public safety. If the target bear is a sow with cub(s), those cubs are trapped and sent to a wildlife rehabilitation facility. It is not protocol for either CDFW or NDOW to lethally remove cubs of target conflict bears. 

Wildlife management is not designed to make people feel good, and the existence of bears is not for the pleasure of people. Bears, just like every wild animal, are part of a complex system that has checks and balances. When we as humans throw off that balance, we take on the responsibility of fixing it, not only for ourselves but also for a healthy ecosystem. While a complete study still needs to be done, it is believed by many bear biologists that the Tahoe Basin has one of the highest densities of black bears in the US. This high density does not match the amount of available natural habitat for black bears, but the human food they have access to creates unnaturally high litter sizes and bears having cubs at a younger age.  With too many bears for a natural system to support, bears become more reliant on these human food sources. This vicious cycle creates continuing conflict between humans and bears, and creates bears that rely solely on human food, no longer contributing to the ecosystem. This imbalance doesn’t mean we should start killing bears right and left but it does require wildlife managers and conflict specialists to look at conflict closely. Are there certain bears perpetuating more conflict than others? The answer is yes. Not only are they causing more damage, but they’re also teaching their young, which doubles the conflict the following year. Wildlife management and conflict management do require the lethal removal of animals at times. The decision to do so is not made easily. It is thoroughly vetted and discussed by individuals whose expertise and job it is to manage wildlife. They don’t just look emotionally at one particular bear; they look at the whole system, with humans included. Removing one animal will not affect the bear population, but in fact, it could benefit the ecosystem.  As a community in bear country, it is our responsibility to do our part in keeping wild animals wild. Bears are WILD!! They are not meant to be in your backyards or eating your trash, and they aren’t pets for us to name and metaphorically own.

As a community, we need to take responsibility and do our part to keep bears wild instead of pointing the finger at wildlife managers who are trying to protect our community and the ecosystem!!

Toogee Sielsch, South Lake Tahoe

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