Humans endangering themselves, bears

U.S. Forest Service officials are threatening to shut off access to Taylor Creek on the South Shore if people don’t start behaving better.

“We have had mobs of people rushing the bears trying to get a selfie. People are going off the trails to look for bears,” Lisa Herron, spokeswoman for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, told Lake Tahoe News. “Our visitor center staff had a report of a bear charging someone. We have had people running across the highway because they heard there is a bear.”

Bears like to frequent the South Shore creek this time of year because the salmon are spawning — so it’s a great feeding place for them.

What people are forgetting is that these animals are wild — and that this is not some sort of controlled Disneyland spectacle.

Forest Service officials said human interaction with bears at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center during the Kokanee salmon spawn has reached an unsafe level. Visitors are getting too close to bears to take photos and videos. Not only can someone be hurt, but then the bear would likely have to be put down.

For more information on visiting bear country, go online.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report