Staff on the Retailers at Heavenly Village in Lake Tahoe had simply completed making ready the mall’s skating rink when an uncommon native arrived to take a nighttime spin on the ice.
A black bear that locals named “Charlie” made his debut as the primary visitor on the rink this yr, sliding throughout the ice shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday, in response to workers.
The bear crawled below the roped obstacles to cross the ice, ignoring the “No Skating with out Skates” signal plastered on the entrance. It’s debatable whether or not claws rely.
“The ice had in all probability simply frozen over when one among our staff, Danny, noticed Charlie skating and obtained that photograph,” Dreu Murin, a spokesperson for the Retailers at Heavenly Village, mentioned. “In the present day’s opening day and he undoubtedly took benefit of the recent ice. … He obtained the primary tracks in our ice rink.”
Heavenly Village posted concerning the encounter on Fb, garnering hundreds of likes for the fuzzy skater. “Guess winter sports activities season is formally open! #OnlyInTahoe #BearOnIce,” the publish learn.
Black bears are often noticed at Heavenly Village, which sits on the base of the favored Lake Tahoe vacation spot Heavenly Mountain Resort, in late fall and early winter, Murin mentioned. The resort space hasn’t reported any assaults lately. However generally people and bears collide — actually.
Final yr, a snowboarder driving down Heavenly Mountain’s slopes crashed right into a black bear cub darting throughout the snow, a state of affairs that was caught on digital camera by a close-by snowboarder. Fortuitously, neither man nor bear was harmed.
After his activate the ice Thursday evening, Charlie walked off on his personal accord. However he apparently couldn’t assist however return — probably this time looking for a snack.
“Charlie was again on the village final evening however he determined to not ice skate,” Murin mentioned.
“Undoubtedly the bear is drawn to the ice rink looking for meals, and the odors related to meals and rubbish,” Steve Searles, wildlife creator and California bear knowledgeable often called “The Bear Whisperer” mentioned. “Because the winter has not arrived but, bear sightings shall be widespread till the snow flies.”
The Nevada Division of Wildlife has warned Lake Tahoe residents to cover their trash via fall and winter as bears will break into houses and companies looking for meals. With such an considerable year-round provide of snacks there’s a threat that bears might skip hibernating altogether in the event that they turn out to be reliant on human meals sources, the division mentioned.
The phenomenon grew to become such a difficulty that this yr the California Division of Wildlife determined to introduce a program of capturing, tagging and “hazing” Lake Tahoe bears, which concerned utilizing noisemakers, paintballs and beanbag rounds to dissuade the bears from going to populated areas.
Charlie’s skating isn’t the primary comical encounter with native bears on the mall. A number of years in the past, a smaller black bear broke right into a Nestlé cookie store to devour ice cream, Murin mentioned.
“We’re considering of constructing ‘Charlie the skating bear’ T-shirts,” Murin mentioned. “He would possibly simply be our mascot.”
