Bear hit by truck, killed on Highway 50 near airport
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Around 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, witnesses say they saw a bear run out of the forest across Highway 50 and get hit by a truck, near the airport.
They say after the impact, the bear was moving around in agony for a few minutes before he stopped. Bystanders pulled the bear off the road.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department responded to scene. One officer pulled the bear further away from the road.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife say this can be a common sight this time of year. “Sadly, we see a lot of bears killed by vehicles this time of year in the Lake Tahoe Basin,” Peter Tira with the department told the Tribune. Many cubs are orphaned as a result of vehicle strikes.
Tira explains bears are out and active—sows with cubs, yearlings newly on their own for the first time and it is also breeding season.
This is coincides with nice weather bringing visitors to Tahoe.
Tira says, “It’s a reminder to slow down to protect wildlife.”
EDCSO and SLTPD could not be reached for comment at the time this article was published.
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