On Monday, May 27, 2024, Lake Tahoe’s BEAR League began receiving reports that a bear cub had been shot in South Lake Tahoe.  The BEAR League is committed to educating Lake Tahoe residents and visitors on how to live in harmony with bears, and BEAR League volunteers provide 24/7 response to the Tahoe basin for bear-related incidents.  

BEAR League volunteers responded to the scene and were informed by eyewitnesses that a long-time resident of South Lake Tahoe had shot the cub.  Representatives of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) also responded to the scene, but shortly terminated any investigative efforts without conducting a full investigation by simply accepting the version of the event received from the man who shot the cub.  CDFW quickly dismissed other eyewitness accounts of the event.  When a BEAR League volunteer asked the CDFW representative for further information about what investigative steps were going to be taken, CDFW’s representative declined to provide any further details.

Since that time, BEAR League has received multiple reports on its 24/7 Hotline at (530) 525-PAWS and via email that this is not the shooter’s first incident of this kind.  In fact, he admitted to the San Francisco Chronicle that he believes bears are pests, and that a bear entered his home during the 2021 Caldor Fire evacuation.  BEAR League received another report that this is not the first time the man has shot a bear near his house.  BEAR League is continuing to investigate these other reported incidents, but BEAR League is calling on the El Dorado County District Attorney to conduct a criminal investigation into this event.  

As became clear with the recent events involving Cody Roberts and the torture of a wolf in a bar in Sublette County, Wyoming, state agencies like CDFW, who are charged with enforcing state laws restricting the manner in which wild animals may be killed, have fallen far short of their legal obligations to ensure that wild animals are not indiscriminately killed.  

BEAR League hopes that this petition will attract the attention of the El Dorado County District Attorney, and that a full investigation will be conducted into the shooter’s actions on May 27. Please join the BEAR League in calling on the District Attorney to do what CDFW will not do.

For more information on the BEAR League, please visit savebears.org, or follow the BEAR League on Facebook and Instagram.