California wildlife authorities investigating report of bear cub shot near South Lake Tahoe

California wildlife officials confirmed Tuesday that they are investigating a report that a bear cub was shot and killed near South Lake Tahoe. The advocacy group BEAR League said it reported the shooting to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after receiving a call from a person who said they saw their neighbor shoot the cub. The incident happened at Pioneer Trail and Player Drive outside of South Lake Tahoe. The person reported that the bear was shot after walking through an open door of the house and then chased away, according to the BEAR League. The Bear League said it considered the shooting of the 16-month-old bear a crime. The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office told KCRA 3 the CDFW is investigating the report. This comes as CDFW works on a new black bear conservation plan for California to minimize conflict as the number of encounters between black bears and humans increases in the state. As part of a draft report, the agency released data from its wildlife incident report. System, a standardized record-keeping effort that began in 2017. The report calls the Lake Tahoe basin a “hot spot” for human-black bear conflicts and shows a sharp increase in incidents in 2021 and 2022. The vast majority of incidents involve “the intersection of black bears and attractants, such as food, trash and livestock,” according to the draft report. The BEAR League participates in efforts to help people bear-proof their homes and reduce the risk of bear deaths. See more coverage of California's top stories here | Download our app.