Warm weather, lack of snows, keeping Tahoe bears from winter slumber

Sandra Chereb

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 1:38 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A delayed winter is keeping the black bears in the Tahoe Basin and along the Sierra front of western Nevada up beyond their normal bedtime.

Generally, the bears tend to ease toward hibernation sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, wildlife officials said.

But with above-normal temperatures and, until recently, no snow to speak of, the bruins have continued to roam the mountains - and residential neighborhoods - in search of food.

"We're hoping this latest storm kind of sent a message to them, but they're still fairly active," Chris Healy, Nevada Division of Wildlife spokesman, said Thursday.

The wildlife division and Jon Beckmann, a University of Nevada doctoral candidate, have put radio collars on 16 bears in the Tahoe Basin as part of a four-year study designed to track their movements and learn more about their behavior and conflicts with humans.

As of early January, 15 of the tagged bears were still active, Healy said.

Carl Lackey, the agency's bear biologist, said there's no hard and fast rule that says bears must sleep the winter away.

"Bears don't have to hibernate," Lackey said. "We have some every year that stay active throughout the winter."

Typically, though, bears hole up for a snooze as a way to conserve energy during cold, harsh weather when natural food becomes scarce.

"A lack of food is what puts them down," Lackey said. "Although there's not much of natural foods available, our nuisance bears are still getting into garbage."

There are signs some of those may be starting to look for suitable quarters to hunker down, Lackey said. But sometimes what a bear considers the ultimate in snuggling accommodations turns out to be anything but for people in the neighborhood.

On Saturday, wildlife experts were called to a home in Incline Village when one 300-pound bear attempted to den up for the winter under a deck.

"It's a garbage bear," Lackey said. "We harassed it and scared him out of there."