Before the ice rink at the Tahoe ski resort Heavenly had even opened to the public, a well-known local bear named Charlie decided to test the ice out for himself, and no one was going to tell him he had to leave.

San Francisco opened its outdoor holiday ice rink last week, as so many communities do this time of year. Though for this story, we will draw your attention to the outdoor ice rink at the Tahoe ski resort Heavenly, or rather, their open-air collection of stores and restaurants known as the Shops at Heavenly Village, located at the California-Nevada border. That destination opened their outdoor ice rink this past Thursday.

But the first visitor the ice rink hosted was very unauthorized, and probably didn’t even pay. KRON4 reports that a black bear hogged the ice rink all to himself. The bear is a male black bear known to locals as “Charlie,” and is known to stroll around the ski resort and local communities.  

“We just opened the ice rink today,” the Shops at Heavenly Village spokesperson Dreu Murin told KRON4. “He was the first one who took to the ice this year.”

Speaking to the Reno Gazette Journal, Murin said of Charlie that "He has become somewhat of a local celebrity, often wandering through the village at night or early mornings on a stroll." He added, "I guess he wanted to try it out."

Charlie apparently spent all of ten minutes on the ice, and we will say, he observed the posted rules of “No shoes on ice!” and “Do not carry children on skates. And as always, the Shops at Heavenly Village stressed the more important rule that you should not feed or interact with Charlie, or any other bears.

The Shops at Heavenly Village’s ice rink and other attractions are currently open, while the ski resort Heavenly opens for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, November 21.

Related: Black Bear Commandeers Tahoe Ice Cream Shop, Woofs Down Strawberry Ice Cream [SFist]

Image: Visit Heavenly Village Lake Tahoe via Facebook

A bear nicknamed “Hope” is slated for euthanization after a reported dozen incursions into people’s homes in just the last three months, but Tahoe bear activists are fighting back, while concerned about what will happen with Hope’s young cub.

In this summer’s exploits of bears breaking into human habitats for food, there have been some scary incidents. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) had to euthanize a bear in late June after its attacks hospitalized one person and harassed several other campers at Eagle Point Campground. Then in late August, a bear known as “bear 753” nearly caused a house to burn down when it broke in and somehow left the gas stovetops on full blast.  

“The female bear carries the yellow ear tag numbered 753 and is well-known to CDFW and the local community,” the CDFW said in a warning. “This particular bear has a long history of home invasions and escalating conflict behavior in South Lake Tahoe dating to 2022.  Since July 20, 2025, DNA evidence has linked this bear to at least 12 home incursions in South Lake Tahoe of both occupied and unoccupied homes.”

As bear 753’s break-ins have continued to rack up, the CDFW has decided to euthanize the bear, according to KPIX. But a group called Bear League, who took these photos and videos of this bear they call Hope and her cub named Bounce, is putting up a fight to save the bear that’s slated to be killed.

KPIX has confirmed that the state agency has decided to euthanize the bear. "CDFW had determined that the bear is 'habituated' – meaning it has learned to associate people, homes and neighborhoods as sources of food and has become completely reliant and dependent on those human food sources,” the agency said in a statement to KPIX. “Consequently, CDFW has determined that management action is required, and bear 753 has been approved for lethal removal.”

The CDFW adds that "This sow and now its dependent cub have repeatedly broken into homes, including occupied homes and including situations that were no fault of the property owners. Obviously, this creates an unsafe situation when an adult bear is actively looking to break into homes and other buildings.”

The CDFW insists they are not setting traps for these bears. But as seen above, the folks at Bear League disagree, and claim they’ve seen the traps.

"I cry regularly about it. It's awful they think the only thing they can do is kill the bear," Bear League volunteer team leader Kathi Zollinger tells KPIX. "She's not the only one doing this. There are six moms in the area we are aware of. What are they going to do? Kill them all? That is ridiculous."

And obviously, people are very concerned as to what would become of that little cub Bounce if their mother was to be killed.

"The cub will be evaluated if and when we are able to catch it,” the CDFW told KPIX. “Our goal was to get the cub into a permitted wildlife rehabilitation facility – to break this generational pattern of human conflict and home invasions – and return it to the wild in the spring when it is big enough and old enough to care for itself.”

The folks at the Bear League dispute that these incidents are break-ins and maintain that people are simply being too careless about locking doors, closing windows, and managing their trash. The Bear League also encourages people to wire their homes with systems that provide the bears with a shock when they encroach, though it’s hard to imagine that would be widely adopted given the cost.

So Tahoe residents are encouraged to lock up their houses securely, keep their trash inaccessible to wildlife, and clear fruit from their yards as frequently as possible. But as far as the fate of “bear 753” Hope and her cub Bounce, that may not be enough, now that she’s on a state agency’s “hit list.”

Related: Black Bear Commandeers Tahoe Ice Cream Shop, Woofs Down Strawberry Ice Cream [SFist]

Image: A black bear fishes for salmon backlit by fall color reflection at Prosser Creek near Lake Tahoe (Getty Images)

An ice cream bear jamboree was broken up by El Dorado County Sheriff’s deputies in South Lake Tahoe early Sunday morning, but not before that bear put a serious dent in the strawberry ice cream supply.

It remains the height of bear season in the Lake Tahoe area, and as always, people are advised to absolutely never feed the bears human food. After all, they’re pretty good at rummaging around for their own human food. The Chronicle reports on an amusing example of this, as in the wee hours of this past Sunday morning, a black bear broke into the Ice Cream Shop at South Lake Tahoe’s Camp Richardson. And as you would guess, that bear sauntered behind the counter and unapologetically helped themselves to the ice cream.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene. “The deputies could barely believe their eyes as they saw a large bear behind the counter of the shop,” that office said in a Monday Facebook post. “With some encouragement, the bear ultimately left, but only after showing interest in the strawberry ice cream.”

No one was injured, and the bear did not cause any damage, short of relieving the shop of some delicious strawberry ice cream.

I scream with laughter over this particular incident, but the brazenness of bears has been a serious and escalating problem in the Lake Tahoe region for the last several summers. The Chronicle points out that just this year alone, a separate South Lake Tahoe bear had to be euthanized after years of home break-ins and aggressive behavior, and a separate mama bear is currently under watch because she’s teaching her little cub how to break into homes.  

You may recall the yearslong saga of Hank the Tank (actually a female) whose rap sheet grew to nearly two dozen Tahoe area break-ins between 2021 and 2023 before she was captured. There have even been cases of bears stalking specific humans, and the side effect that more bears are being hit by cars.  

So things remain complicated in the human-bear dynamic in Lake Tahoe, and there's no reason to think we won't see bears making themselves more and more comfortable in human environs around those parts.  

Related: Big Ol’ Black Bear Makes Self Right At Home In Marin County Front Yard [SFist]

Image: El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office via Facebook

There was a very rare black bear attack on a human being on Monday in Tuolumne County, but the 24-year-old jogger who suffered the attack has since reportedly been released from the hospital.

While it’s extremely rare for a California black bear to attack a person, we’ve now seen a few examples of this within the last nine months. The first was back in November 2023, when a  71-year-old woman was fatally mauled by a black bear in Sierra County’s Downieville, and the bear had apparently been stalking her for months. Last month, a black bear in Yosemite National Park charged at a man and ripped his clothing.

Now we have another of these attacks, as a black bear attacked a 24-year-old jogger this past Monday at around 5 pm in the Tuolumne County community of Long Barn, according to SFGate. While that report notes the man is in stable condition, other media reports indicate he’s already been released from the hospital.

As Sacramento’s KOVR explains, the unidentified 24-year-old man was on a run when he encountered a bear cub. The mother bear emerged from the trees and began to chase the jogger. She attacked him and pushed him into a ditch, giving him several scrapes and gouges. (Ironically, one of the gouges was on his thigh, “right where the man has a tattoo of a bear” according to KOVR.) He smacked the bear with a stick and managed to get away, but only briefly.

"I see this young man running down the road and a bear literally chasing and biting at him, and his shirt flapping in the wind,” neighbor Heather Silfies told KOVR. “It was just shredded and he didn't have one of his shoes on all the way, so he's literally running with the shoe not on.”

The man then jumped onto the top of Silfies’s SUV. "The young man is standing on the roof of our Escalade," she continued. "The bear is standing at the Escalade and she's trying to climb up. So she has her foot on the running board and she's literally jumping up at him, wanting to get on the roof, just wanting to attack him."

The bear was successfully chased off, and per People magazine, the unnamed man was treated at Adventist Health in Sonora. But Silfies told KOVR that the man has since come back to their home to thank her family, so it sounds like he’s been released.

“That's not normal bear behavior to attack a person,” Department of Fish and Wildlife captain Patrick Foy told the local paper Union Democrat. “It’s very much not normal behavior for a bear. This bear has showed unusual aggression towards a human. The bear is still out in the community. We haven’t caught it. We don’t know if we will catch this one. There's a reduced chance because this is not a bear that's habituated to people and people sources of food.”

And Foy added, “If we get a bear in the trap and we get a DNA profile of the bear in the trap, if that bear matches the DNA samples we collected from the attack, that bear will be euthanized.”

Related: NorCal Woman Killed By Black Bear Had Been Complaining About Animal Stalking Her Home For Months [SFist]

Image: American black bear (Ursus americanus) cub. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee )Getty Images)

A 71-year-old woman became the first person in recorded California history to be killed by a black bear last fall. Following an investigation and interviews with people who know her, we now know the bear had been hanging around in the vicinity and stalking the woman's home for a while.

Wildlife experts are fairly baffled by the case of Patrice Miller, as the Chronicle reports. The 71-year-old woman lived by herself in a rental home in the tiny Sierra Nevada town of Downieville. Sheriff's deputies arriving at Miller's home for a welfare check in November — an apparently gruesome scene involving bloody bear paw prints, and the woman's body mangled, partly eaten, and dragged through the house — believed that the woman had died first and was then mauled by an opportunistic bear breaking in.

A subsequent autopsy, however, which wasn't publicized until this month, found that the bear had killed Miller in her bedroom. Investigators believe the bear entered the home through a kitchen window.

"It appeared that the bear had probably been there several days and had been feeding on the remains," says Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher, speaking to KCRA.

The bear then looted hat it could find in the home, and left a pile of bear scat as well, before it left.

“We’re in new territory," says Captain Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Law Enforcement Division, speaking to the Chronicle about the unprecedented nature of this case.

Miller was familiar with the bear in the months before it killed her, reportedly nicknaming it "Big Bastard," and she had even reportedly had to physically hit the bear once to keep it out of her house.

"Every time I’d see her, something would be brought up about the bear trying to get into the house,” says Miller's friend, Cassie Koch, speaking to the Chronicle. “At first, it was like, 'Oh, this pesky bear.' But then she seemed scared about it."

Koch was the one to call for the welfare check after she had not heard from Miller.

This chilling story led to a standoff between the Sheriff's Office and the Department of Fish and Wildlife about euthanizing the bear, which later became trapped on another homeowner's property. Ultimately, the bear believed to have killed Miller was euthanized, as KCRA reports.

This was before the autopsy had even determined that the bear had mauled the woman to death. Later, though, DNA confirmed that this was in fact the bear that had killed Miller.

Downieville has apparently become bear central in recent years, just one of a number of locations where black bears have become more accustomed to humans, and have taken to scavenging for meals in trash cans and cars. And, as the Chronicle notes, Miller's home was a prime target, with a vegetable garden growing out front and garbage that wasn't always diligently locked up in a bear box or other device.

Sonya Meline, the owner of the Carriage House Inn in Downieville, tells KCRA that she's used to bears being around, and taking advantage of unsuspecting tourists. "No matter how many times we'd tell the guests, ‘Don't leave food in your cars. Lock your car doors at night,’ the visitors, they don't always listen," Meline says. "They'll leave a snack bar or something, and the bears will find it."

Meline also says she noticed one particular bear that had been aggressively going door to door in town last year. "It was not a normal bear," Meline said.

That bear, as KCRA reports, may have been a different one than the one euthanized, as there was another bear breaking into homes, and a school, after the first bear was euthanized in November. The second bear was euthanized as well, and Fisher said that reports of bear activity went way down in the area following the death of the second bear.

"I don't want every black bear that steps foot into my community to be euthanized,” Sheriff Fisher tells KCRA. "My primary concern is the public safety of my local citizens and my visitors that come to our communities.”

Previously: NorCal Woman's Death Caused By Bear Mauling

Photo: Max Seeling

A troublesome trend in Lake Tahoe, where “40 to 50” bears have been hit by cars this summer, with 20 of these collisions happening in just the last month.

This summer’s staggering surge in Lake Tahoe tourism, and a new tendency for bears to wander more aggressively into human areas, is producing a tragic trend. SFGate reports that 20 bears have been hit by cars in the Lake Tahoe region in the last month alone. And a representative from a bear awareness and protection nonprofit says that “40 to 50” bears have been hit by cars this summer, putting the region on pace for the deadliest year ever for bear-car collisions.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s going to be a record year, really,” Ann Bryant, director of that nonprofit Bear League, tells SFGate. “We’ve had many, many this year. A lot are OK — they’re limping but healing. But a lot die.”

The Bear League is the go-to organization for the California Highway Patrol whenever a bear-car collision is reported. They send a volunteer to the site to monitor the bear while Highway Patrol directs traffic, and the bear is often able to shake it off after a few minutes. But sometimes the bear does require treatment (and the Bear League can only provide treatment to bears who are less than a year old). And in some extreme cases, the the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has to euthanize the bear.

“I think it’s tourism, there’s just so much traffic,” according to Bryant. “I mean, it’s definitely a record year for visitors, and they don’t think about watching for wildlife. They just motor along, looking at pinecones and whatever. I’ve never seen it like this. And then there’s so much construction, and that makes people move in a hurry.”

The roads and highways that see the most bear-vehicle collisions tend to be Route 89 and I-80 on the California side, and State Route 28 in Nevada. Wildlife advocates worry that this will year’s total will surpass the 2007 record of 94 bear-vehicle collisions, as the forthcoming months of September and October are when these accidents usually peak.  

“This is bear country; it’s wildlife country,” Bryant tells SFGate. “We have to share the road with animals, and you have to always be thinking that there could be an animal right ahead. If you see one bear, it could be a Mama bear with cubs right behind her.”

Related: Tahoe Bear Hank the Tank's Reign of Terror Ends In Capture — and a New Home [SFist]

Image: BEAR League via Facebook

South Lake Tahoe's most wanted fugitive has finally been captured.

"Hank the Tank," the formidable female black bear responsible for a trail of more than 20 home break-ins, was taken in Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said in a release.

DNA evidence had previously confirmed that Hank was behind at least 21 break-ins in the area, which reportedly caused extensive property damage, since 2022. She’s also apparently a suspect in several more (although DNA cleared her from a few others previously thought to be her handiwork).

Hank was discovered in March denning under a residence in South Lake Tahoe along with her  three male cubs of the year, according to CDFW, and state officials collected her DNA, attached an ear tag, and put a satellite tracking collar on her at the time. Her cubs were also microchipped. However, Hank managed to shed the collar by May and continued to evade capture.

But on Friday morning, wildlife biologists found and apprehended Hank and her cubs, who accompanied her on several break-ins. Don't worry — she won't be euthanized. Hank will instead be taken to the 10,000-acre The Wild Animal Sanctuary near Springfield, Colorado, where she’ll be free to roam. The CDFW said that it is unusual to relocate “conflict bears” like Hank the Tank — meaning bears that have become accustomed to human food sources and interacting with people — because they’ll usually just cause trouble somewhere else. But the agency said it is making an exception due to “the widespread interest in this bear, and the significant risk of a serious incident involving the bear.”

As for the cubs, they’re potentially headed towards a fresh start at the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, where officials hope to recondition their behaviors and unlearn their mischief. One cub seems to have been hit by a car recently, and will undergo a thorough veterinary check. His mobility and potential for rehabilitation are promising signs.

RELATED: It Ain’t Just Hank the Tank — DNA Shows At Least Four Different Bears Plundering Tahoe Homes

Feature image of Hank the Tank via the California Department of Wildlife.

The rare sight of a black bear was captured on security camera footage from a San Rafael home, and it's reportedly the second bear sighting in Marin County in the past month.

Here’s a hair-raising coincidence, at least the way NBC Bay Area describes it. At roughly 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, in the San Rafael neighborhood of Terra Linda, resident Caitlin Estrella was comforting her five-year-old daughter after the youngster had a nightmare that a bear was having a picnic near their home. And while she was calming her daughter, she received a security camera notification that there was in fact a black bear in her yard.

A snippet of that security camera footage can be seen above. “I was running around the house locking all the doors because, where my sister lives, the black bears open the door handles,” Estrella told NBC Bay Area. “I wasn’t going to take any chances.”

This is reportedly the second bear sighting in Marin County in the last month, as the Bay Area News Group adds that a bear was spotted in Larkspur in May. Those two sightings were only about eight miles apart, so there is some possibility that it’s the same bear. NBC Bay Area says the bear “ate all of the red strawberries from their garden,” but did not eat any garbage, which bears will often do.

“Bears will eat anything,” Alison Hermance, director of communication for the wildlife hospital WildCare, told NBC Bay Area. “They’ll even lick outdoor BBQs and grills. Homeowners can help keep bears at bay by making sure their trash is sealed, bringing in bird feeders and pet food and even cleaning their outdoor grills.”

Residents of areas where bears might meander are also advised put trash out the day of collection and not the night before, and of course, to never feed the bears.

Related: It Ain’t Just Hank the Tank — DNA Shows At Least Four Different Bears Plundering Tahoe Homes [SFist]

Image: via  Caitlin Estrella

Wildlife officials are bracing for more human-bear encounters than ever as this snow-covered spring in the Tahoe area is going to make for more challenging foraging for the hungry animals.

The black bear population of the Tahoe Basin, estimated at around 300, has been through a lot the last couple of years, with human-created fire and pandemic-related crowds at the lake disrupting their routines in multiple ways. As the Chronicle reports, wildlife experts are trying to prepare the local public for more run-ins than usual with bears this spring, given that many will be waking up from hibernation to a much snowier landscape than they've seen in years.

"The concern certainly is that there will be more opportunities for them to come across backyards and trash and human sources of food, which we don't want them to access," says Peter Tira with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, speaking to the Chronicle.

While some bears around Tahoe have forgone hibernation altogether in recent years, finding that there is plentiful food around throughout the winter, others likely took to their dens after the early snows started falling.

Both the groggy and hungry bears who were hibernating and those that weren't will be out and about, likely forced closer to where people live by piles of snow and forest floors that are still buried many feet deep.

And the problem may only get worse as we get deeper into the spring season, and the snow takes much longer than usual to melt. All those plowed streets and driveways will make for easy pathways to trash and/or garages stocked with food!

Many will remember last year the stories of Hank the Tank which emerged in the winter of 2021/22, telling of an enormous 300-pound black bear who was blamed for ransacking 30 homes in South Lake Tahoe in search of food. Later DNA testing proved that this was not one but, in fact, three equally large and voracious bears who were all unapologetically breaking into homes to eat.

Expect more stories like that any day now... and lock up your trash and stay out of their way, Tahoe folks!

Previously: It Ain’t Just Hank the Tank — DNA Shows At Least Four Different Bears Plundering Tahoe Homes

Photo: Zdenek Machecek

A young male black bear has been causing a big stir in Vacaville this week, and prompting multiple warnings from local police to avoid the animal.

The bear was first spotted near the edge of town Sunday night, KTVU reports. Officers think the 250-pound male bear is likely 2-3 years old, and was probably wandering around looking for food when it made its way to the city.

Monday morning, Vacaville Police posted on Facebook warning the bear had reached the North Orchard area and was a little too close to several schools for officers to be entirely comfortable.

“If you see the bear, the safest course of action will be to avoid him, keep doors and windows closed, and consider bringing any pets inside,” the Vacaville Police Department warned.

Officers set up shop at Orchard, Hemlock, and Jepson schools to keep one eye on students making their way to class, and the other on the bear. The Department also temporarily closed Hemlock Street between North Orchard and Fir Street, and limited traffic on North Orchard Avenue to only those entering the school.

Vacaville Police checked in with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to figure out how to safely handle the situation. The department says bear sightings are not uncommon in Solano County, but that people should keep their distance if they do see a bear.

“Remember the safest bear encounter is one we prevent – please do not seek out the bear for curiosity, photographs, or selfies.”

So far as police know, the bear never approached anyone or posed an immediate threat, though at one point it was spotted running and napping in yards, hopping fences, and climbing up a tree in someone’s yard.

"Since this bear hasn’t acted aggressively we are going to back off and we are going to give it the chance to go back to its habitat on its own," Ken Paglia with the Department of Fish and Wildlife told KTVU Monday.

NBC Bay Area reported the police were still keeping an eye on the bear Tuesday, and Solano NewsNet said the bear made its way back to the wilderness later that day.

“Thanks for.. BEARing with us!!” Vacaville police joked on social media.

The Police Department gave some advice on what to do if you spot a bear moving forward, as well as how to deter them from coming onto your property.

“Bring in those trash cans after pickup,” said Vacaville Police. “If you see a bear in town in the future, avoid it and give it the opportunity to avoid you. If the bear doesn’t yet see you, back away to a safe distance. As always, please call us – our public remains our eyes and ears.”

Photo via Vacaville Police Department

A 500-pound bear blamed for ransacking nearly 30 South Lake Tahoe homes for food, who has become a massive internet celebrity in the process, is partially exonerated as DNA evidence shows this has been the work of at least four different bears.

One does not normally become an internet hero for breaking into nearly 30 homes, ransacking the places, and stealing all the available food in sight, and generating more than 100 police complaints in a seven-month span. But a 500-pound black bear named who has come to be nicknamed Hank the Tank has reportedly been on a reign of rummaging through homes, growing to nearly double the size of normal black bear on that tasty human food that he so loves, and even getting a Sunday New York Times profile on his series of food-driven home invasions.

“This is a bear that has lost all fear of people,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira told the New York Times. “It’s a potentially dangerous situation.” According to the Times, there is even talk of euthanizing Hank, an issue that has polarized the South Lake Tahoe community.

But hold on — new DNA evidence is, to some degree, exonerating big ol’ Hank the Tank. KGO reports that California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has determined that at least three different bears are responsible for the damage based on their DNA evidence assessment.

A Tahoe-based wildlife advocacy group Bear League is thrilled with the news. "DFW notified us and verified our suspicions that DNA has now proved Hank is Not responsible for even half of the bear home incursions,” the group said in a Facebook post. “There are three other bears who have been in more homes than Hank… but he was taking the rap… probably due to his size…. and extreme handsomeness.”

“Two of the other bears are females,” the group adds.

According the Chronicle, this means Hank the Tank “temporarily avoided state-sanctioned euthanization,” though officials will attempt to trap and relocate all three (or more) bears. They urge residents to cooperate by allowing bear traps on their property, and to very carefully store their food and trash, as the scent is what attracts bears.

“By working together, these efforts to protect residents and bears can be successful,” the CDFW said in a statement. “We appreciate everyone’s engagement as we work through this situation in a thoughtful, science-based, transparent manner.”

Surely it’s scary to have a bear break into your home, and the costly damage is no laughing matter. But one cannot help but be amused at the above Facebook post by the South Lake Tahoe Police department, and the many hundreds of commenters coming to Hank’s defense. “Please stop calling SLTPD dispatch to voice your opinion about Hank,” the department says. “They're being inundated with aggressive callers, taking away from their ability to handle actual emergency calls.”

“This is really a cute and sweet way to get people BEARY aware of bear safety,” says one of the more sane responses, adding, “we’re technically on their turf.”

Related: Tahoe Bears Took Advantage Of Empty Neighborhoods, Went to Town on Trash Cans, Rotting Food [SFist]

Image: Bear League

An East Bay woman was attacked by a bear in the kitchen of her North Lake Tahoe home last weekend, and she's speaking out to warn other people about the dangers of bears who are becoming more accustomed to having humans in their midst.

Laurel-Rose Von Hoffmann-Curzi, 66, told her frightening tale to KTVU, just months after sharing photos with the station of a bear roaming her property in Tahoe Vista. Von Hoffmann-Curzi lives in Orinda with her husband and son, but she says she was isolating at the family's second home in Tahoe as she is being treated for Stage 4 lymphoma.

Around 6 a.m. one morning last weekend, she was awoken by noises in the kitchen of the house, and went to investigate. She found a bear by the refrigerator, and the bear immediately went on the attack.

"He must have come straight at me," Von Hoffmann-Curzi says. "I have only a vision of the paw. It was dark and then I'm getting torn up."

The scene sounds scary, indeed, and very well could have been fatal.

"I was bleeding and scared and screaming," she says. "I should be dead the way the bear swiped at my face and right here," she said pointing to her neck.

Von Hoffmann-Curzi is a doctor in private practice, and she showed her wounds on camera. She suffered puncture wounds and cuts all over her body, and needed stitches for a laceration on her cheek.

Black bears have been increasingly present in populated areas of Lake Tahoe in recent years, and this summer's fire season led to a lot more wandering and scavenging in human neighborhoods, especially during the evacuations from the Caldor Fire. As El Dorado County sheriff's Sgt. Simon Brown said at the time, "The delicate balance between humans and bears has been upset."

Bears are also, increasingly, not hibernating during the winter season around Tahoe because of the abundance of food at their disposal via humans' garbage.

As Von Hoffmann-Curzi tells KTVU of the animal that attacked her, "This bear's been in the neighborhood. He's not afraid of people. My screaming didn't frighten him."

Authorities warn people not to leave pet food outdoors, or unsecured food waste, but obviously even food smells that come from inside a home can attract bears.

Von Hoffmann-Curzi said this was the first time any bear had actually broken into their house.

Previously: Tahoe Bears Took Advantage Of Empty Neighborhoods, Went to Town on Trash Cans, Rotting Food

Photo: Joshua J. Cotten

The bears of the South Lake Tahoe area had a ball last week tearing through evacuated neighborhoods, breaking into homes and garages where they smelled food, and generally making a huge, stinking mess.

As the Caldor Fire beared down on South Lake Tahoe, some bears came out of the deeper woods where things were burning, and joined the bears who usually roam the area in getting into whatever they could get into, while the humans were away. (And, FYI, these are all black bears, not quite as big but just as hungry as grizzlies — even though there's a grizzly bear on the state flag, there are no grizzlies left in California.)

"They’ve had free run of the town, and they’ve been taking advantage of it," said John Tillman, owner of South Tahoe Refuse, speaking to the Chronicle.

"There’s so much garbage on the street because of the bears. Oh my God, they are making a mess," Tillman said.

Reportedly, many South Lake Tahoe residents — who often but not always have locked bear boxes in their front driveways to stow trash for pickup — took out their trash as they were evacuating last Monday, even though there was no scheduled trash pickup for several days. On top of that, Tillman explained, most of the 130 employees at South Tahoe Refuse are local and were evacuated themselves, which meant no trash was going to get picked up at all.

With no people to shoo them away, bears took their time sniffing out good eats — and bears can, apparently, smell fresh or rotting food from a mile away. Garage doors were broken through, bear boxes were pried open, and trash cans with locking lids were likewise popped open for the bears to feast.

Also, some homes were broken into by bears, as CBS News reports, prompting the sheriff to issue a broad warning to all returning South Lake Tahoe residents on Sunday that they should be on the lookout for bears, and to call law enforcement if they think a bear might have gotten inside their home. The bears, the sheriff's office said, had all but taken over.

"The delicate balance between humans and bears has been upset," said El Dorado County sheriff's Sgt. Simon Brown, speaking to CBS News.

Around 70 reports of bear break-ins at homes and vehicles came in last week, up from a usual average of just a few per week, as the Chronicle reports.

Trash collectors were just getting started on the cleanup work on Monday, and South Tahoe Refuse announced there would be a no-charge food waste drop-off on Wednesday, September 8, at 2121 Eloise Avenue.

"If at all possible, please keep any food waste out of the garbage," the company said on its website. "It helps on so many levels, including animal mitigation."

Due to the continued need for cleanup, the company is also hosting several temporary garbage drop-off sites this week at Elks Point Fire Station and Bijou Park.

The Caldor Fire reached 49% containment Tuesday morning, and evacuation orders in South Lake Tahoe and neighboring areas close to the lake were downgraded to warnings as of Sunday afternoon. Evacuation orders remain in place for the communities of Meyers, Christmas Valley, and Fallen Leaf Lake.

Related: Evacuations Lifted In South Lake Tahoe As Winds Calm Down

Photo: Ben Owen

A video has gone viral of a California teenager fending off a mother bear who appeared ready to kill several barking dogs who confronted her and her cubs.

The Memorial Day incident happened in Bradbury, California, as CBS LA reports, and the video posted to TikTok shows 17-year-old Hailey Morinico running out to rescue the family's four dogs as the bear is swatting at them and appears to try to grab one of the smaller dogs.

The mother bear is walking along a wall at the edge of the home's property with two small cubs underneath her. The largest of the four dogs runs out and begins angrily barking at the bear, causing the two cubs to run the other direction. The mama bear then begins swatting at the dog, and three smaller dogs join in the confrontation with one, a little Yorkshire terrier, appearing to get caught by one of the bear's paws.

Morinico then runs out and shoves the bear off the wall, in order to save the dog.

@bakedlikepie

My cousin Hailey yeeted a bear off her fence today and saved her dogs. How was your Memorial Day?! (WTF?!) ##ohno ##badass ##brave ##fight ##bear

♬ Oh No - Kreepa

As she later said on TikTok, "I go over to the bear, I look it in the eyes, and the first thing I think to do is push it. Push a bear, push an apex predator, man. And to be honest, I don’t think I like pushed her that hard, I just pushed her enough to make her lose her balance.”

Luckily, Morinico walked away with just a scraped knee and a sprained finger.

@bakedlikepie

##duet with @tempurashrimp here is the famous cousin Hailey! ##bear ##ohno ##cousinhailey

♬ original sound - secks haver 😎

Morinico's mother also posted the video to Facebook, saying, "My child... just saved our dog with super human strength. For me one of the scariest moments in life." She tagged several local news stations, leading to the video now appearing on TV.

Photo: Mathieu Olivares