Employees at the Shops at Heavenly Village in Lake Tahoe had just finished preparing the mall’s skating rink when an unusual local arrived to take a nighttime spin on the ice.
A black bear that locals named “Charlie” made his debut as the first guest on the rink this year, sliding across the ice shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday, according to staff.
The bear crawled under the roped barriers to cross the ice, ignoring the “No Skating without Skates” sign plastered at the entrance. It’s debatable whether claws count.
“The ice had probably just frozen over when one of our employees, Danny, spotted Charlie skating and got that photo,” Dreu Murin, a spokesperson for the Shops at Heavenly Village, said. “Today’s opening day and he definitely took advantage of the fresh ice. … He got the first tracks in our ice rink.”
Heavenly Village posted about the encounter on Facebook, garnering thousands of likes for the fuzzy skater. “Guess winter sports season is officially open! #OnlyInTahoe #BearOnIce,” the post read.
Black bears are frequently spotted at Heavenly Village, which sits at the base of the popular Lake Tahoe destination Heavenly Mountain Resort, in late fall and early winter, Murin said. The resort area hasn’t reported any attacks in recent years. But sometimes humans and bears collide — literally.
Last year, a snowboarder riding down Heavenly Mountain’s slopes crashed into a black bear cub darting across the snow, a situation that was caught on camera by a nearby snowboarder. Fortunately, neither man nor bear was harmed.
After his turn on the ice Thursday night, Charlie walked off on his own accord. But he apparently couldn’t help but return — likely this time in search of a snack.
“Charlie was back at the village last night but he decided not to ice skate,” Murin said.
“Undoubtedly the bear is drawn to the ice rink in search of food, and the odors associated with food and garbage,” Steve Searles, wildlife author and California bear expert known as “The Bear Whisperer” said. “As the winter has not arrived yet, bear sightings will be common until the snow flies.”
The Nevada Department of Wildlife has warned Lake Tahoe residents to hide their trash through fall and winter as bears will break into homes and businesses in search of food. With such an abundant year-round supply of snacks there’s a risk that bears could skip hibernating altogether if they become reliant on human food sources, the department said.
The phenomenon became such an issue that this year the California Department of Wildlife decided to introduce a program of capturing, tagging and “hazing” Lake Tahoe bears, which involved using noisemakers, paintballs and beanbag rounds to dissuade the bears from going to populated areas.
Charlie’s skating isn’t the first comical encounter with local bears at the mall. Several years ago, a smaller black bear broke into a Nestlé cookie shop to devour ice cream, Murin said.
“We’re thinking of making ‘Charlie the skating bear’ T-shirts,” Murin said. “He might just be our mascot.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
