GARY BOGUE
Plan under way to help get food to Tahoe bears
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched:08/21/2007 03:10:57 AM PDT

"Bears keep me humble. They help me to keep the world in perspective and to understand where I fit on the spectrum of life. We need to preserve the wilderness and its monarchs for ourselves, and for the dreams of children. We should fight for these things as if our life depended upon it, because it does."
-- Wayne Lynch, "Bears: Monarchs of the Northern Wilderness" (1993)

Dear Gary:
I'm distressed at the news on TV showing bears and telling about them breaking into houses in the Tahoe area where the big fire was.

Whenever there is a natural disaster, be it blizzards on the Great Plains in winter, or drought in the Everglades, somehow there is help for the animals. Airplanes drop feed to the cattle and bison, and water is released for the alligators to survive.

What can be done to help to feed bears in Tahoe?

The bears need to build up winter fat reserves to survive hibernation. Right now they are breaking into houses to find that food. It won't be long before the bears will be shot for messing with humans.

What can be done to save them before it's too late?
Sandy Lawrence,
El Sobrante

Dear Sandy:
Two of my longtime friends in the wildlife rescue business, Cheryl and Tom Millham, have operated an organization called Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care for many years. They are very involved with helping Lake Tahoe's bears, so I asked them to respond to your letter so you can get your facts straight from the horse's ... bear's mouth.

Here's what they e-mailed me when I sent them a copy of your note:

Gary:
It is true there has been more bear activity since the Angora Fire (June 24). There is no way to estimate how many bears were living in the 3,100 acres that burned, or how many were able to get out. Some, as we know, got out, but with burns, mainly on their feet (paws).

Go to our Web site (www.ltwc.org) for one of the stories.
The bears that are breaking into houses are not the neighborhood bears that people know but are very large and unfamiliar ones. We assume they are the bears from the fire area who lost their homes and food supplies and are just trying to survive.

Let me tell you who we are and what we do. Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is a volunteer, nonprofit organization which has existed in South Lake Tahoe for 30 years, by raising, rehabilitating and releasing orphaned and injured wild birds and animals.

LTWC is trying to educate the local residents on how to coexist with these bears by NOT leaving doors or windows open at night (a screen is considered an "open" door or window to a bear), NOT leaving food out in the kitchen, how to cut the smell of food, and how to use a "Rex Dog" impulse device (this is a realistic barking dog motion sensing alarm. /Gary).

At this time, along with the BEAR League, LTWC is approaching California Fish and Game to obtain permission to do "food drops" away from the residential areas in an attempt to draw the bears out, away from the neighborhoods and give them some help as they can't go into the market and buy any groceries.

This would be a huge undertaking and expensive, but we feel there are enough people who would be willing to help with this project. LTWC and the BEAR League have started an Angora Fire Fund which will solely be used for bear food. If anyone would like to contribute, they can send a check to "LTWC -- Fire Fund" at 1485 Cherry Hills Circle, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. You can also donate on our Web site.

We will keep you updated as we wait on a response from Fish and Game.

Cheryl Millham, Executive Director, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care Inc.

Find more Gary in his blog at blogs.contracostatimes.com/garybogue; write Gary, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099; old columns at ContraCostaTimes.com, click on Columns; e-mail garybug@infionline.net.