According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, an enormous 500-pound black bear named Yogi has been causing havoc in the resort town of Lake Tahoe and the residents, have mixed emotions about it.
Law enforcement and wildlife personnel in the area said that they have received over 150 calls about the bear as of late and something needs to be done to fix the issue.
“This one individual bear has been linked to property damage at 38 different properties at least,” Peter Tira from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told KCRA 3 in Sacramento.
Authorities add that the bear has caused “extensive property damage and forcefully entered several homes – including occupied homes.”
In an attempt to stop Yogi’s wave of destruction, bear traps were set up in the area by wildlife officials who said they want to capture and euthanize the bear.
“The trapping activity is a measure of last resort to capture and euthanize a specific and what we call a severely habituated or human-food conditioned black bear,” Peter said.
Some of the residents of Lake Tahoe were outraged at the idea of euthanizing Yogi and there has been an attempt by some of them to play noisy music to try and scare it away. One upset resident even went as far as to spray paint “Bear Killer” on one of the bear traps.
A pro-bear activist group, The BEAR League, said they have reached out to wildlife officials to try and get Yogi to a safe new home.
“The BEAR League reached out to the director of an excellent out-of-state wildlife sanctuary who agreed he has room and would be very willing to give this bear a permanent home,” executive director Ann Bryant said. “We notified [the California Department of Fish and Wildlife] on Tuesday morning asking that this option be seriously considered rather than killing the bear.”
Ann noted however that the sanctuaries are not a full-time solution for nuisance bears and ask Tahoe residents to practice more prevention.
“Homeowners and visitors need to do their part to keep the bears out of trouble so they can live wild and free,” she said. “The various reasons that the bears get into trouble is because people do this and they teach the bears that’s a good way to make a living.”