Man kills bear cub near Lake Tahoe, angering residents

The recent killing of a young black bear by a homeowner near Lake Tahoe has enraged residents, including neighbors who dispute the man's story.

The fatal shooting occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Memorial Day in an unincorporated neighborhood in El Dorado County, about 2 miles south of the Lake Tahoe Airport.

Steve Gonzalez, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the man told investigators he was in his living room with his dog when a bear entered the house.

“He tried to get up and scare the bear by yelling at it and waving his arm, but the bear was behaving in a threatening manner,” Gonzalez said. “So he got his rifle that was nearby and shot the bear twice.”

He said the injured bear ran away and climbed a tree, but fell to the ground due to its injuries.

“The man approached the bear, saw it was suffering and humanely euthanized it,” Gonzalez said. The man was not injured.

Gonzalez said a Fish and Wildlife warden investigated the shooting and no charges were filed.

But the killing of the young bear angered some residents, including Ann Bryant, director of the Bear League, a nonprofit organization based in the Lake Tahoe basin.

She said two league members were sent to the neighborhood to document what happened after receiving a call from a distraught neighbor who witnessed the shooting.

Bryant said team members learned from neighbors that the bear was never fully inside the house and that the homeowner had previously shot another bear.

She said team members tried to speak to the principal, but were mostly ignored. The shooting occurred, she noted, at a time of year when young bears become separated from their mothers and learn to live on their own.

When she learned that the principal had concluded the shooting was an act of self-defense and had not sought any criminal charges, she was furious.

“They believe him over all the neighbors who have seen him and know him and heard his discussions about how he feels about bears and know about the other killings,” she said. “It is disappointing that the Department of Wildlife is turning a blind eye.”

Gonzalez said he didn't know if the homeowner had been involved in any other bear shootings.

A neighbor who witnessed the shooting, Bogdan Yamkovenko, 43, said the little bear had spent most of the day in the neighborhood. He said it was about 1:30 p.m. when he noticed the bear come down from a tree he was napping on.

At that time, Yamkovenko was standing on the back patio of his house when he noticed the little bear standing near his neighbor's back door. He said he tried to make noise using his barbecue grill, but the bear didn't react.

Shortly after, he saw the bear poke its head inside the neighbor's house, suggesting the door was left half open or completely open.

“He pushed his way in, going deeper and deeper, but he never got all the way in,” he said. “You always saw part of the bear.”

He then saw the bear back up, turn around, run away and climb the tree he was napping on earlier.

“That’s when I heard the first shot,” he said.

Yamkovenko ran to his neighbor's house, hoping to get him to stop shooting. As he walked around his neighbor's house, he heard a second shot.

When Yamkovenko reached his neighbor, he told him to stop shooting and that the Department of Fish and Wildlife would deal with the bear.

“He said, 'No, I have to put him out of his misery.'”

Yamkovenko said the three gunshots he heard happened outside, but when the guard came to talk to him, he was told the neighbor said he fired four times.

The guard “told us that something was wrong with the neighbor's story because the neighbor kept saying that there had been four shots and that he had shot the bear inside the house,” Yamkovenko said.

When he learned that the case was closed, Yamkovenko called the director, furious. He said the manager did not answer his call.

Gonzalez said he had heard claims that the bear was not inside the house, but defended the warden's findings.

“He is a qualified officer, an officer of the State Police and he took an oath to fulfill his duties,” Gonzalez said of the director. “And you know, the people who work for Fish and Wildlife are dedicated to preserving wildlife for future generations.

“I trust him. We trust him, we have a lot of confidence in him,” he added. “He went to the site to personally investigate and found that what the owner said was true and decided there was no need to go any further.”

Bryant said she will continue to look into the matter until justice is served for the bear.