A black bear that had damaged cars, threatened campers and wrecked homes for years in the Lake Tahoe basin was euthanized by California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers earlier this month after the animal broke into another house in the basin.
“This bear, with a long history of human-wildlife conflict, was well-known to CDFW staff,” state fish and wildlife officials said in a statement Friday. Officials said the bear was first captured in 2021, tagged and returned to its habitat after breaking into cars and homes, only to return to the basin where it broke into vehicles and businesses and chased after campers for food.
The bear — known by its tag number, 717 — had been chased away by game officers several times over the years. The bear, now close to 400 pounds, had survived largely on human food and trash and resisted numerous efforts by wildlife officers to trap him, the department said in its statement…