Tahoe sees record number of bears evicted during hibernation

Spring is here and in the Sierra. Oh hello bear. That means the bears are back in action, but not all of them got to rest during their hibernation. So the Bear League. Yes, there's a Bear League. They say there were a record number of evictions around Tahoe this winter. That may explain it. Tori Apodaca has details on what that means as animals wake up. Over 100 bears have been evicted from homes, businesses, even churches this winter in Tahoe. The Bear League says that this is a record, but the problem isn't that there's more bears, but more people. Watch out, run. A paintball gun scaring off a bear from its sleep under a Tahoe home. We upgraded the hinges in the latch and put some steel rods on the back of this door even with a secured crawl space like this one bear on a mission for warmth in the winter. Found another way in so the bear this year came back behind the church and then entered under the deck this way. Pastor at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Tahoe City, Edward Hilton says he knew something was off when the chapel wasn't heating up, so he called in a contractor while he was underneath. The contractor came face to face with a hibernating bear and immediately ran out that bear spent about a month of his hibernation, hogging up the heat under the back deck. It's just the bears doing what they need to compensate for us taking over what has historically been their forest. Hilton called an executive director of the Bear League and Bryant to evict the bear right behind here. She crawled under the church. So why are bears burrowing near humans and not in their habitat? Bryant says it's because we're inviting bears in by leaving crawl spaces open and food out. The solution secure your space. The problem is more and more tourism and more and more people coming up here for vacation and forgetting to bring their brains with him. The majority of evictions are happening at vacation homes. This winter was a record, sometimes eight a day, and they usually just find another home to hide under. Come on bear. We feel like criminals running the bears out. Bryant does not expect the disrupted sleep will impact bear behavior. And we're going to be looking at some bear wire, but the bears aren't going anywhere as long as people keep unintentionally inviting them in. He's a holy bear. Well, even though there are still mounds of snow on the ground in Tahoe, the bears are waking up from hibernation and they're going to be coming out both thirsty and pretty darn hungry. So that's why Bryant says it's really important for people to be cautious and food this spring.