BEAR League

BEAR League The BEAR League is a non-profit organization based in the Lake Tahoe basin. We believe in "People Living in Harmony with Bears". Call our 24/7 hotline for help!

But between the hours of 6pm and 8am, please only call in the case of an emergency. We are a Lake Tahoe-based nonprofit working to help people coexist with black bears! We answer a 24-hour hotline to answer questions and respond to wildlife-related emergencies. Between the hours of 6pm and 8am, please only call in the case of an emergency! Thank you for visiting our page. We want all of you to par

ticipate on our Wall so here are a few things that you'll need to know in order to post. We reserve the right to delete a comment or post containing any of the following (NOTE: We may also block the poster):

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If you repeatedly violate these rules, we will remove you from our page. By the way, if you see something on this page that you think is against the rules, let us know and we’ll see what we can do. But be patient – since this is a manual process it may take some time for us to look into it. Thank you for your cooperation and we look forward to reading your posts!

BEAR League is at at the Joy Fest today, in Tahoe City at Commons Beach.It’s a great day for joining us for music and a ...
06/07/2026

BEAR League is at at the Joy Fest today, in Tahoe City at Commons Beach.

It’s a great day for joining us for music and a lovely walk around the park.

We have our new posters, new brochures, Paint the Bear for the kids, ‘I Brake for Bears’ license plate holders, stickers, gummy bears, bear magnets, etc etc.
No charge for anything….. please stop by and say Hi!

We’ve had a whole week of worries here at the BEAR League. As most everyone knows all the young bear families emerged a ...
05/30/2026

We’ve had a whole week of worries here at the BEAR League.

As most everyone knows all the young bear families emerged a bit over a month ago and Moms with small, vulnerable cubs are out in the world doing their best to survive.

Good reports and happy news most everywhere except one week ago when we began to get calls from residents saying there appeared to be a very young cub alone and crying in one of our communities.
Our BEAR League Response Team arrived quickly, hoping to find a Mama Bear nearby and be able to help re-unite the family. We didn’t find a mom and the concern was heartbreaking. But we knew she could possibly be nearby and we had heard of no collisions between bear and car anywhere in the area. So we were forced to back away and hope that all would be well by morning.

It wasn’t. More calls came in and we spent hours and hours in the cold rain with the little guy, keeping him safe and praying his Mom would return. He stopped crying on day three, which is always what happens.
Still no Mom but he was moving in a huge area and was doing better than we could have imagined. We held on to hope while keeping an eye on him from a distance every day in case his Mom appeared.

No one wants to take a bear cub from the wild and away from his family so we had to be sure before we made that decision. By the end of day four we knew his Mom was not coming back and we knew he would soon weaken.

It is extremely rare for a Mother bear to abandon her cub so we feared she is/was no longer alive.
The next day we reached out to the biologist at the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife while we had him safely in a tree and explained his circumstances and our several days' observations. They wanted to wait for another day or two in case his Mother was still there for him.

On day seven they agreed it would be best to rescue him and bring him in for rehab and he was safely captured and will be just fine now.

BEAR League wants to thank all of the many residents and visitors who called us, sent photos and videos and reported his whereabouts so we could check on him several times daily. We also wish to thank the CDFW for being available and willing and able to jump in to rescue this little guy.

The wonderful humans who watched over him decided to call him Han Solo. We think that's a good name.
May the Force be with you, Han. You are loved by many. Stay strong, be brave and grow to be the most amazing Bear ever!

It is a well-known fact that California Department of Fish and Wildlife fits black bears with GPS collars to track their...
05/14/2026

It is a well-known fact that California Department of Fish and Wildlife fits black bears with GPS collars to track their movements — but at what cost? One down side is the assumption by the public that a bear with a collar is a 'nuisance, problem. rogue or dangerous bear' which isn't true (Those bears are killed, Not collared). When people think the bear is a troublemaker, they will automatically disrespect, fear him and want him Gone.

To install the collar, the bear must be heavily sedated, sometimes for hours at a time, until the collar is fitted (at times they are so heavily sedated they die).

As bears grow larger each year in preparation for hibernation, these collars cause restricted movement, skin irritation, and--as these images show--serious, life-threatening infections and injuries. Younger bears are especially vulnerable, as collars can embed deep into the bear’s neck as they rapidly grow, causing infections and death.

Although the collars are designed to fall off by themselves after a period of time, they often fail and BEAR League has seen these collars remain on bears for years.

While BEAR League appreciates and encourages science-based education regarding black bears in California, wildlife should be monitored with their well-being in mind, not despite it.
The good news?
There are humane alternatives that work.

Bear biologists can use camera networks like BEAR League uses to monitor bear activity and populations without physical contact. In South Lake Tahoe alone, BEAR League has images of dozens of bears and we regularly track them as they travel through the area.
BEAR League is also currently working on developing facial recognition software for use with bears to allow more reliable tracking from our bear images.
There are also small GPS tags that attach to the bear’s fur that have successfully been used with polar bears in Canada.

Please consider contacting CDFW’s Executive Director Meghan Hertel at https://wildlife.ca.gov/Director/Email to strongly and diplomatically suggest CDFW adopt 21st-century, cruelty-free monitoring methods. Science and compassion aren't mutually exclusive.

05/02/2026

As our CubCam26 project comes to a close, here's a look back on Rose, Storm, Echo and Oakley from when we first installed our cameras until just a few days ago when they left into the Big World.

For those of you who have only recently started watching BEAR League's CubCam videos, Rose had two cubs last year, Rubicon and Ellis, who were both killed by cars in Fall 2025. It’s a sad reality for bear cubs in the Tahoe basin.

Rose went into estrus very late in the year, and this year, she’s got three hungry boys to feed. And stick around to the end of the video where we reprise some footage of Rose, Ellis & Rubicon from CubCam25 last winter.

As always, please check the FAQ page before commenting, as we’ve answered many of your questions there. https://justalittlelight.com/cubcam-26-faq/

05/02/2026

We at BEAR League practice what we preach! This video is from one of our volunteer's homes who has a strategically placed bear mat.

This little yearling was taught at a young age; houses are off limits! Please understand bear mats and wiring DO NOT harm bears, but it certainly gives them a good startle. The feeling is similar to touching a hot wire, giving the response as more of a "Whoa! What was that!" than an "Ouch". They are not harmed whatsoever.

Bears are now active, please consider bear wiring and/or strategically placing a bear mat or two if you live in bear country. The more bear deterrents we display as a community, the stronger message we collectively send to bears that they are not welcome in our homes! Help us encourage bears to get out of our neighborhood and into the back woods. This will save many bear lives from being trapped and killed when considered a "nuisance" bear.

Here's the link for all the current Bear Wiring/Bear Mat Companies
https://savebears.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Electric-Home-Protection.pdf

04/30/2026

The day we knew was coming has arrived. Yesterday just after lunch, Rose took Echo, Storm and Oakley off into the big world.

This is the latest date that one of our families has left in the four years we have been conducting the BEAR League CubCam project. But it’s also the first time we’ve had three cubs on one of our inside-the-den camera installations. Rose is a good mom and wouldn’t have taken them out unless she knew they were ready.

Enjoy these excerpts from the last few days before they left.... and be relieved, like we are, knowing the cubs just have baby teeth!

Stay tuned over the next week or so. We have some really special compilations coming.

As always, please check the FAQ page before commenting, as many of your questions are answered there. https://justalittlelight.com/cubcam-26-faq/

04/25/2026

Mama Bear Rose and Cubs --- Storm, Oakley and Echo.

Growing by the minute, preparing to venture forth into the world that is theirs as much as it is ours.

BEAR League CubCam26 Team will miss them very much. But it is the way of wild bears.

04/22/2026

Please watch this short important report. It explains simply and succinctly about the contraception program we are working towards in order to save Hope and our other Tahoe Mother Bears who are known to teach their cubs to break into homes to forage.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is not interested in looking into this, so far. At this point they still are focusing on killing Hope, and others. Our goal is to bring CDFW on board with us ASAP and go 'non-lethal', alongside the BEAR League and our other partners.

Wish us Luck! We are not giving up.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=991989603394310&extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C&ref=sharing&mibextid=wwXIfr

04/21/2026

Rose, Storm, Echo and Oakley present:
"Playtime. Dinner Time. Bedtime. Repeat"

04/19/2026

BEAR League knows from having observed Rose last year that she is a very patient teacher, and she will not take her cubs out into the Big World until they are excellent climbers.

For the past several days, she has been teaching them how to climb day and night. We were excited to be able to capture this session, as Oakley, Storm and Echo learn one of their most valuable survival skills.

Any day now they will be ready to head out. All our other Bear Families have already left. Rose's cubs are about two weeks younger than the others.

Address

Homewood, CA
96141

Telephone

+15305257297

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