Lake Tahoe skating rink gets visit from unusual local — a black bear named Charlie

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 12 months, sliding throughout the ice shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday, in keeping with workers.

The bear crawled beneath the roped limitations to cross the ice, ignoring the “No Skating with out Skates” signal plastered on the entrance. It’s debatable whether or not claws depend.

“The ice had most likely simply frozen over when one in every of our staff, Danny, noticed Charlie skating and obtained that picture,” Dreu Murin, a spokesperson for the Retailers at Heavenly Village, stated. “Immediately’s opening day and he positively took benefit of the recent 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 submit learn.

Black bears are regularly 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 stated. The resort space hasn’t reported any assaults in recent times. However generally people and bears collide — actually.

Final 12 months, a snowboarder using down Heavenly Mountain’s slopes crashed right into a black bear cub darting throughout the snow, a state of affairs that was caught on digicam by a close-by snowboarder. Thankfully, neither man nor bear was harmed.

After his activate the ice Thursday night time, Charlie walked off on his personal accord. However he apparently couldn’t assist however return — doubtless this time seeking a snack.

“Charlie was again on the village final night time however he determined to not ice skate,” Murin stated.

“Undoubtedly the bear is drawn to the ice rink seeking meals, and the odors related to meals and rubbish,” Steve Searles, wildlife writer and California bear knowledgeable generally known as “The Bear Whisperer” stated. “Because the winter has not arrived but, bear sightings can be widespread 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 houses and companies seeking meals. With such an considerable year-round provide of snacks there’s a danger that bears might skip hibernating altogether in the event that they turn out to be reliant on human meals sources, the division stated.

The phenomenon turned such a problem that this 12 months 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 stated.

“We’re pondering of constructing ‘Charlie the skating bear’ T-shirts,” Murin stated. “He may simply be our mascot.”