Workers on the Retailers at Heavenly Village in Lake Tahoe had simply completed getting 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 employees.
The bear crawled underneath 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 considered one of our workers, Danny, noticed Charlie skating and obtained that picture,” Dreu Murin, a spokesperson for the Retailers at Heavenly Village, mentioned. “Immediately’s opening day and he undoubtedly took benefit of the contemporary ice. … He obtained the primary tracks in our ice rink.”
Heavenly Village posted in regards to the encounter on Fb, garnering hundreds of likes for the fuzzy skater. “Guess winter sports activities season is formally open! #OnlyInTahoe #BearOnIce,” the put up learn.
Black bears are continuously 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 in recent times. 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 scenario that was caught on digital camera by a close-by snowboarder. Luckily, 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 — seemingly this time searching 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 searching for meals, and the odors related to meals and rubbish,” Steve Searles, wildlife writer and California bear knowledgeable often known as “The Bear Whisperer” mentioned. “Because the winter has not arrived but, bear sightings can be frequent 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 properties and companies searching for meals. With such an plentiful year-round provide of snacks there’s a danger that bears might skip hibernating altogether in the event that they grow to be reliant on human meals sources, the division mentioned.
The phenomenon turned 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 pondering of constructing ‘Charlie the skating bear’ T-shirts,” Murin mentioned. “He would possibly simply be our mascot.”
