An unbearable problem

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In the secluded Kern County enclave of Pine Mountain Club, Susie Kramer used to toss table scraps off the deck. For years, deer, raccoons, foxes and a coyote she nicknamed Wiley feasted on the garbage buffet.

‘I thought I was doing the right thing,’ said Kramer, who moved to Pine Mountain Club with her husband, Brad, from Santa Clarita eight years ago.

Then the bears showed up. And they wouldn’t go away.

Kramer no longer chucks her trash. But some people here, knowingly or unwittingly, have been feeding the bears.

This year the mountain community has experienced a surge of ‘break-ins’ -- black bears barging into houses or going through open doors. Up in the Lake Tahoe area, the Bear League, a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting bears, reports that it gets between five and 20 calls a day about bears entering homes.

Experts say the increased activity has partly been caused by wildfires that have ravaged bear habitat. But also to blame are humans, who have helped raise generations of trash-addicted bears. In response, wildlife advocates are stepping up efforts to educate people about how to coexist with bears.

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-- Francisco Vara-Orta