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Relating to wildlife administration within the Golden State, misinformation is aware of no bounds

A food-conditioned black bear pops its head out of a California dumpster. Photograph by CDFW / Flickr

Once in a while, there’s motive to surprise if some People inhabit a weird world the place the sky is inexperienced, the grass is blue, and different broadly assumed scientific norms are turned on their heads. On this unusual parallel universe (recognized by many as California), mountain lions could be revered as monarchs whereas different charismatic species are seen as cute and fuzzy victims in want of a serving to human hand, whether or not they’re endangered or not. The result’s that science-based wildlife administration turns into overly convoluted. Regulated searching falls beneath assault. And all too typically, the wild critters are the losers ultimately.

A working example was made Friday, when California wildlife officers needed to name consideration to a bogus flyer that was being distributed round South Lake Tahoe. The flyer, which had been duct-taped to site visitors indicators alongside Freeway 50, inspired the general public to feed Lake Tahoe’s “struggling bears.” It defined that these bears had been being disadvantaged of the meals they want by the “egocentric, heartless human beings” who comply with state legal guidelines that prohibit the intentional feeding of wildlife.

“The horrendous ‘Don’t feed the Bears’ marketing campaign was dreamed up by individuals too lazy to brush up rubbish supposedly created by an animal,” the flyer said. “If you happen to nonetheless cling to this idea, try to be completely ashamed of your self.”

As a substitute of following the long-held recommendation shared by each wildlife supervisor in North America, the flyer contended, space residents ought to put out devoted buckets full of meals waste for the bears to take pleasure in.

The flyer was photocopied and shared to Fb by a neighborhood resident, who spent two hours eradicating them from site visitors indicators round city. (Tahoe Toogee / through Fb)

“That is false and intensely dangerous misinformation that’s detrimental to our bears,” officers with the California Division of Fish and Wildlife wrote in a Jan. 5 press launch. The company additionally included a number of legit sources on stay safely in bear nation to set the report straight.

The U.S. Forest Service joined CDFW in debunking the ludicrous flyer, as did a number of native bear advocates — a few of whom questioned whether or not the flyer’s creator was joking or simply plain clueless. In a Fb put up, the USFS Lake Tahoe Land Basin Administration Unit mentioned the flyer included “blatantly false and intensely dangerous misinformation” that will solely improve the already excessive variety of human-bear conflicts happening round Lake Tahoe.

These conflicts can all be traced again to food-conditioned black bears. This has turn out to be such an issue in recent times that consultants say a lot of Tahoe’s bears are not hibernating. As a substitute, they’re pillaging dumpsters, raiding pantries, and serving to themselves to the opposite human meals that are actually accessible year-round.

“It’s not good. It’s not regular. It’s not pure,” Ann Bryant, the chief of Tahoe’s BEAR League, mentioned in a previous interview with SFGATE. Bryant added that through the 20-plus years she’s led the native bear-education marketing campaign, she’s seen these seasonal patterns shift as city newcomers and second owners fail to maintain their meals waste and different trash out of the bears’ attain.

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The poster youngster for this downside, a 500-pound sow nicknamed Hank the Tank, was lastly “taken care of” final summer season after wildlife officers linked the overweight bruin to a minimum of 21 residence invasions over the course of a 12 months. The ultimate straw? Additionally they had motive to consider that Hank was instructing her cubs burglarize properties and discover the perfect snacks. Another state would have euthanized the nuisance bear lengthy earlier than issues received up to now out of hand. However in sure California communities, “taking good care of” one thing apparently means delivery it to Colorado.

Naturally, the off-base flyer that was signed “with love and respect, Sincerely Steven” known as consideration to the exile of Hank the Tank. Which, when considered via bizarro lenses, is the tragic story of a “lovely black bear” that had “no selection however to starve to loss of life or try a house invasion.”

There isn’t a point out within the flyer of the 156,000-plus acres of public forest land that surrounds Lake Tahoe, and which supplies black bears with a few of the greatest, most forage-rich habitat within the state. In any case, acknowledging this could imply accepting the truth that the a whole lot of bears dwelling round Lake Tahoe don’t exist solely for Steven’s — or some other human’s — enjoyment.