The account, however, has sown conflict between nature lovers and those who think it’s a tall tale. The Kaweah Commonwealth reported that bears have been illegally slaughtered, but game wardens dismissed it as far-fetched because of a lack of evidence, such as names of suspects, vehicle descriptions or dead bears, Lt. “People are shooting the bears, there’s no doubt,” he said. Jeff Beck heard dogs barking in the middle of the night followed by gunfire. But some wonder if those shots are innocent. Quiet nights are interrupted by air horns, banging on pots or a gunshot to scare off creatures known to forage 20 hours a day as they prepare for long winter naps. A bear tore apart the outer walls of a resident’s pump house and a music studio to get at acorns a woodpecker had stowed in the siding. Others chimed in with suggestions of where to find them.Ī crowd formed recently outside the River View restaurant to gawk at a bear up a tree.īears have climbed on roofs for acorns and one was found exploring a bathroom under renovation in a house.
One resident suggested on a town Facebook forum that people with guests seeking bears not bother winding up the road to the park. Now they’re fixtures on the golf course out his back door and have been spotted by the pool of a guest house. Gregory Lockhart had seen one bear in 27 years until this season. Water is plentiful and acorns carpet the ground.
The four-year drought has shriveled the berry crop in the Sierra Nevada and led oaks on parched hillsides to produce fewer acorns, forcing the bears into the valleys carved by the branches of the Kaweah River that give this town its name. Most seem delighted by the visiting black bears - many brown and cinnamon in color - lumbering through grasslands, trotting across roads or wading through rivers. “He didn’t care about me at all,” Haws said. He carefully stepped back as the bear reared up and then walked away.
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