Mysterious Tahoe flyers spread misinformation about local bears

Experts in South Lake Tahoe are concerned about mysterious flyers spreading misinformation about feeding bears. 

The flyers, which were posted on street poles and along Highway 50 around Lake Tahoe Basin, encourage people to feed bears, which the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said is “false and extremely harmful misinformation that is detrimental for bears” in a social media post Friday morning.

Toogee Sielsch, a nature enthusiast in the region, told SFGATE he first became aware of the flyers on Wednesday morning. When he saw the flyers he was “flabbergasted,” he said.

“Even now, I can’t tell if this is just some crazy joke,” Sielsch said. “If that’s the case, they sure went to a lot of trouble because they put them on like three or four dozen traffic signal poles.”

The flyers claim that bears are suffering from starvation, largely because people lock up their garbage cans. “As they spend most of their life going from garbage can to garbage can finding it locked, due to selfish heartless human beings,” the flyers read.

Sielsch said he spent more than two hours this week taking down flyers and has seen them on “pretty much every traffic fixture” along Highway 50. 

Ann Bryant, executive director of wildlife rescue service Bear League, told SFGATE that she and hundreds of other community members have also helped take the flyers down. 

Bryant also said feeding the bears is dangerous because it causes them to be reliant on humans. 

“They need to forage on their own. They can do that,” Bryant said. “They’ve been doing it for millions of years without our help. We don’t need to interfere in everything.”

Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the department, told SFGATE that officials haven’t taken down any flyers but are aware that community members are taking action.

“I don’t think we have any immediate plans that I’m aware of right now to take those down. But I think I know some community members have been doing that,” Tira said. 

The department’s post urges the public to be wary of the information in the flyers. 

“It’s not possible for communities in bear country to coexist with bears unless people respect boundaries with bears and other wildlife,” the post reads. “This includes not feeding wildlife, keeping garbage and other attractants away from bears and wildlife and educating oneself on all the best practices when living in bear country.”