Euthanized the wrong one....

Bear that entered woman's Lake Tahoe home reportedly euthanized after neighbors had seen her feeding it

Amanda Bartlett

A bear wandered into a woman’s home in North Lake Tahoe earlier this month after she walked out to a nearby dumpster to dispose of her trash, leaving the front door wide open, and came back to find the animal standing inside.

The incident occurred at a condo near the 3100 block of North Lake Tahoe Boulevard on June 16, according to a statement shared by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office last week. After the woman saw the bear, she ran through the front door to get to a phone and call 911. In the process, the startled animal bolted past her and fled outside to a tree in the front yard. 

The woman’s face was scratched, either by the bear or in the subsequent fall. She was taken to a hospital and released a few hours later, but neighbors fear a similar incident could happen again.

Ann Bryant, co-founder and executive director of the Bear League, a nonprofit that protects bears in the region, said she had received calls from nearby residents who were concerned about the woman. They claimed that she had previously left her doors open and had also been tossing food into her yard that was, in turn, attracting bears, coyotes, ravens and other animals to the area.

“They were terrified something horrible was going to happen,” she told SFGATE on Sunday.

Bryant believes the bear that entered the woman’s home was a one-year-old male weighing no more than 150 pounds. She said the animal had likely left its mother for the first time and came to recognize the woman’s property as a reliable food source. 

“He was probably afraid because he had been caught in the house, and now there’s this person coming at him,” Bryant said. “She was blocking his way inadvertently. He got scared, tried to get past her, and she panicked.” 

About four hours after the incident, the bear was still hiding in the tree. Police called officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to the scene, who proceeded to shoot the bear with a tranquilizer. The animal tumbled through the branches and hit the corner of a roof on its way down, Bryant said.

“It was horrific to watch,” she said of the footage, adding that the bear was later taken to a lab and euthanized. SFGATE contacted the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for more information but did not hear back by time of publication.

Bryant is urging Tahoe residents to not feed bears and make sure their doors and windows are closed. If an animal does somehow wander into your home, she says it’s important to avoid blocking its escape route and not to enter your property until it’s gone. 

“Hopefully, there won't be another situation like this, and maybe we can save the next bear,” she said.