Trap-Tag-Haze efforts underway to identify Lake Tahoe's black bears

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has begun its annual Trap-Tag-Haze efforts in South Lake Tahoe. They made the announcement this week in South Lake Tahoe, drawing concern from those thinking the traps put up near the Tahoe Keys neighborhood will cause harm to the bears, and separate cubs from their lactating mothers.

Since 2017, CDFW has caught, tagged, collected DNA, and released 36 bears as part of its Trap-Tag-Haze bear research and management efforts in the Basin.

This spring, CDFW will focus initially on the South Lake Tahoe area, where a few different bears have broken into homes since the summer of 2021.

"Although reports have slowed, these bears have caused significant property damage throughout the neighborhood known as the Tahoe Keys," said CDFW in its "Bear Naked Truth" blog.

There are questions as to the placement of the traps in a meadow near a forest, but Peter Tiara of CDFW said they can only place the traps where property owners allow them and where bears might be. They need permission to place traps, and if at a home, property owner permission is needed. After the situation with "Hank" and retaliation against the homeowner who had a trap place in their driveway, permission is now hard to get.

Tiara said the Tahoe bear DNA collected through a trap-tag-haze operation can actively identify bears, and be used as a management tool. The bears that are trapped are sedated, blood and hair samples collected, and they are released after being ear-tagged with an identifying number. The bears are hazed as they are released with the use of noisemakers or paintballs.

The hazing gives the bears a negative human interaction, as opposed to the positive interactions they get when getting into cars, homes, and trash where they find food.

"Bears associate people and neighborhoods as where they get food," said Tiara.

Trap-tag-haze is conducted by CDFW in partnership with the US Forest Service and California State Parks.

Over the past five years, Tiara said they had mixed early results, some bears have stayed away from the area trapped, while others are not fazed. Tiara said they are now starting to see genetic links with problem bears, which means the sows are teaching their cubs their learned bad behaviors.

Many bears look alike, so CDFW is able to use DNA to tell which ones are going the damage when breaking into a home or car. It was that DNA test that showed a few bears were breaking into homes in the Tahoe Keys, and it wasn't all the fault of "Hank the Tank," a 500-lb bear that frequents the neighborhood. Many from the South Lake Tahoe community went to Hank's defense to help prevent his being killed.

Tiara said the methods they use to trap-tag-haze are veterinarian-approved.

If they catch "Hank" they get DNA to see if a match to bear break-ins and to ensure he is healthy. Hank will be relocated away from homes and people in a pre-determined habitat. CDFW will track with GPS to not only see where he goes but to make sure he is thriving.

"This is purely a trap-tag-haze effort unless we do get "Hank," said Tiara. "We will deal with him if and when it happens."

For bears that are not "Hank," they will be released and not relocated into a different area.

This time of year finds many cubs and their lactating mothers (they were born around February). There has been concern that the cubs and mothers are being separated. Tiara said if they happen to catch either the sow or cub they are released without any tagging, hazing, or removal from the area. There have been a couple of instances since CDFW put the traps out where this did happen, and cubs and mothers were reunited within a few hours.

The mother of a cub recently trapped stayed right outside the trap. Tiara said the mother was agitated but they were reunited right away.

"We don't anticipate having any issues," added Tiara about the length of time the cubs and mothers are apart.

He said the longest they would be separated is overnight. On Friday the traps caught three yearlings and their mother was nearby so they let them out without being processed. If the mother had not been there they would have processed the yearlings and recorded their DNA.

Following the South Lake Tahoe Trap-Tag-Haze efforts, CDFW will move the operation to the western and northern sides of the Basin