Life Among the Bears in California
The DailyYou’re reading The New Yorker’s daily newsletter, a guide to our top stories, featuring exclusive insights from our writers and editors. Sign up to receive it in your in-box.In today’s newsletter, reporting on an animal crisis in Lake Tahoe. And then: The best jokes of 2024 The asymmetry in the abortion-rights movement Calvin Trillin on Yiddish, Litvaks, and the Evil EyeWildfires, overdevelopment, and easy access to garbage have brought Tahoe’s bears into increasingly close contact with their human neighbors. One local described a bear as “a five-hundred-pound police battering ram.”Photographs by Corey Arnold for The New YorkerPaige WilliamsStaff writerWhen I went to Lake Tahoe to report for my story in this week’s issue, I imagined finding amusing anecdotes about black bears (bears are funny), but not such a troubling ending. The black bear’s behavioral profile in the area—ranging from high jinks to a gruesome first, for California—turned out to be symptoms of a problem with humans. The pandemic had prompted thousands of people to relocate to Tahoe, which Mark Twain, who lived near the lake for several years, starting in 1861, described as “the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”Do newcomers not realize that they’ve moved to nature? The commercial names alone should serve as a clue—there’s the Tahoe Bear Tea House, Black Bear Trading Company, Black Bear Lodge, Bear Belly Brewing Company, and on and on. There’s also the sighting of bears. I saw my first one in the wild on a Sunday morning—followed by three more, elsewhere in the basin, that same day. Those bears were in the woods, foraging; a fourth was dashing across a highway, near an electronic road sign (“BEARS IN AREA”) that reminded drivers to be careful.I spoke to the leaders of a longtime Tahoe nonprofit called BEAR League that teaches humans how to live in bear country without endangering the animals or themselves. Their warnings involve taking some care with garbage and leftovers, and avoiding general cluelessness. “Only leave windows open if you are right there in that room so you can furiously yell at the bear if he tries to come in,” the organization posted on Facebook in July, not long before I arrived. Someone replied, “It’s crazy how many people don't get this! I kinda feel like there should be a required class in ‘coexisting with bears’ before being allowed to rent or buy a house in Tahoe!!” It might be time to require Realtors to disclose bear activity near a property the way that California, South Dakota, and Alaska require homeowners who are selling to disclose certain on-site deaths. “Some of the real-estate agents don't want to do that,” one bear advocate told me. “They don’t want buyers to find out there’s bears, and back out of the sale.”Black bears live throughout the United States. They are resilient, crafty animals that generally don’t hunt humans but that, as became darkly clear in Tahoe, will do anything to survive. The good news is that with a few adjustments, it’s possible to live safely among black bears for as long as our forests exist. Read “Lake Tahoe’s Bear Boom” »Illustration by Sophi Miyoko GullbrantsThe Asymmetry in the Abortion-Rights MovementGrassroots activists believe that high-altitude advocacy is taking precedence over helping patients access care, Jessica Winter writes. What is the best way forward for supporters of reproductive rights? Read the column »More Top StoriesThe Best Jokes of 2024Of Yiddish, Litvaks, and the Evil EyeDaily Cartoon“Oddly, social media isn’t helping my state of mind.”Cartoon by Shannon WheelerCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copiedShopShopMore Fun & GamesPlay today’s bite-size puzzle. A clue: Small mammal in several of Aesop’s Fables. Five letters.P.S. Tired of eating turkey? Why not forage for some more interesting leftovers by using a food-waste app to source food that grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants would otherwise be throwing away? Earlier this year, Patricia Marx hosted a dinner party that served only rescued waste.Ian Crouch contributed to this edition.
In today’s newsletter, reporting on an animal crisis in Lake Tahoe. And then:
- The best jokes of 2024
- The asymmetry in the abortion-rights movement
- Calvin Trillin on Yiddish, Litvaks, and the Evil Eye
Paige Williams
Staff writer
When I went to Lake Tahoe to report for my story in this week’s issue, I imagined finding amusing anecdotes about black bears (bears are funny), but not such a troubling ending. The black bear’s behavioral profile in the area—ranging from high jinks to a gruesome first, for California—turned out to be symptoms of a problem with humans. The pandemic had prompted thousands of people to relocate to Tahoe, which Mark Twain, who lived near the lake for several years, starting in 1861, described as “the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”
Do newcomers not realize that they’ve moved to nature? The commercial names alone should serve as a clue—there’s the Tahoe Bear Tea House, Black Bear Trading Company, Black Bear Lodge, Bear Belly Brewing Company, and on and on. There’s also the sighting of bears. I saw my first one in the wild on a Sunday morning—followed by three more, elsewhere in the basin, that same day. Those bears were in the woods, foraging; a fourth was dashing across a highway, near an electronic road sign (“BEARS IN AREA”) that reminded drivers to be careful.
I spoke to the leaders of a longtime Tahoe nonprofit called BEAR League that teaches humans how to live in bear country without endangering the animals or themselves. Their warnings involve taking some care with garbage and leftovers, and avoiding general cluelessness. “Only leave windows open if you are right there in that room so you can furiously yell at the bear if he tries to come in,” the organization posted on Facebook in July, not long before I arrived. Someone replied, “It’s crazy how many people don't get this! I kinda feel like there should be a required class in ‘coexisting with bears’ before being allowed to rent or buy a house in Tahoe!!” It might be time to require Realtors to disclose bear activity near a property the way that California, South Dakota, and Alaska require homeowners who are selling to disclose certain on-site deaths. “Some of the real-estate agents don't want to do that,” one bear advocate told me. “They don’t want buyers to find out there’s bears, and back out of the sale.”
Black bears live throughout the United States. They are resilient, crafty animals that generally don’t hunt humans but that, as became darkly clear in Tahoe, will do anything to survive. The good news is that with a few adjustments, it’s possible to live safely among black bears for as long as our forests exist. Read “Lake Tahoe’s Bear Boom” »
The Asymmetry in the Abortion-Rights Movement
Grassroots activists believe that high-altitude advocacy is taking precedence over helping patients access care, Jessica Winter writes. What is the best way forward for supporters of reproductive rights? Read the column »
Daily Cartoon
P.S. Tired of eating turkey? Why not forage for some more interesting leftovers by using a food-waste app to source food that grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants would otherwise be throwing away? Earlier this year, Patricia Marx hosted a dinner party that served only rescued waste.
Ian Crouch contributed to this edition.
