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Check out LTWC's new website at ltwc.org!
LTWC.org will now act as both LTWC's website and blog -- check out the home page for regular updates from LTWC, or browse the site to view wildlife videos, photo galleries and the LTWC store! The new site will also host LTWC's webcam in the future.
Enjoy!
Come visit LTWC this Sunday, August 7, between 10am and 4pm for the annual LTWC Open House!
The Open House is the only day of the year that LTWC opens its doors to the general public. It is a fantastic opportunity for the whole family to see and learn about some of the animals that share the Lake Tahoe area with us!
The Open House will be held at:
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care
1485 Cherry Hills Circle
South Lake Tahoe, CA
See you there!
The Kokanee Festival starts today! This spectacular event is great for the entire family. See thousands of bright-red Kokanee salmon spawning in Taylor Creek and enjoy the fall colors, while taking part in educational programs or competing in the trail runs.
And be sure to stop by LTWC's food booth for a delicious barbeque lunch! Choices include an 8oz barbeque salmon fillet dinner (servied with corn on the cob, dinner roll, cold slaw and a drink), as well as hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos and barbequed chicken.
Be sure to save the date for the LTWC Open House on Sunday, August 1, 2010, from 10am-4pm. This is the only day of the year that the general public can come and tour LTWC, and see much of the wildlife we're caring for in person!
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is located at 1485 Cherry Hills Circle, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.
Tonight is the barn owls' last night at LTWC! They are all grown up and ready for their release tomorrow. We got some great photos of them today -- stay tuned for the full gallery!
Last week, we noticed that the Mendocino bear cub has some swelling on the right side of her muzzle. As Tom noted over in the webcam page comments, Dr. Willits examined the cub again on Friday and determined that the swelling was caused by an infection. The cub had also lost a little weight, about 0.3lbs since she was weighed earlier that week. He decided to extract her the upper canine teeth in order to give the infection an escape route, and prescribed some antibiotics.
Since then, we're happy to report the little cub is back to her normal self! The swelling swelling gone down, she's active and eating well. Right now, she still prefers eating formula to peaches and other solid food. We expect that it will take a couple of weeks before she changes her diet.
Below are some new photos that Tom sent this morning. Click on any image to enlarge.
Below is an update on -- and a couple of new photos of -- the bear cubs that LTWC rehabilitated last year, and released this past February. Thanks to Tori Seher, Wildlife Biologist at Yosemite for the update!
Ryan Leahy returned to the den yesterday and retrieved the remote camera we had placed at the den site. The camera had been pulled off the tree, dragged into the den, and chewed upon. The battery pack is no longer working, but we still managed to get some fantastic photos.On February 3, the three bears were placed inside the den, 2 wearing radio collars. On Feb. 8th, all three bears were still inside the den. In March, one of the collared bears left the den and was located outside the park down the Evergreen Rd while the other radio collared bear adventured outside the den in the TM Grove area, but returned and was found inside the den again on April 1st. As of yesterday, all three bears are out of the den and one radio collared bear was detected in the Hodgden Meadow area. Both radio collars are set to automatically drop off the bears on June 21, 2010.
Unfortunately, the date stamp on the camera was set but later malfunctioned so we don't know the exact date the bears left the den.
Click on an image to enlarge.
This is LTWC's newest guest -- a 5-1/2 pound bear cub! Click on an image to enlarge, and stay tuned for more info.
The 2010 Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care wall calendars are here! The calendars are $15 each, plus $5 shipping and feature full-color photos of wildlife cared for by LTWC. All proceeds benefit Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
Click the "Buy Now" button below to get yours today!
Our sincerest thanks to:
LTWC has leftover frozen salmon fillets from the Kokanee festival for sale! $20 for four frozen 8-oz filets.
We had terrible weather for the festival this year and didn't sell nearly as many barbequed salmon fillets as we usually do. This is a great chance to stock your freezer with some delicious fish and help out LTWC! To purchase, please contact Tom at [email protected] or 530-577-2273. Thanks!
Sue Horst and Vicki Entrekin have shared some more webcam screenshots of the cubs with us, all taken in the past week. Enjoy!
We all know that the webcam is all a matter of timing -- tune in at the right time, and you'll get to see all of the cubs swimming, playing and looking for their treats. Time it wrong, and all you get is an empty room, where the only action is the tire swing moving ever so slightly in the breeze.
Thankfully, Sue Horst and Vicki Entrekin have timed it right, and taken some webcam screenshots of the cubs at their playful best to share with everyone. Just click on an image to see a larer version. Thanks Sue & Vicki!
Last Saturday (July 25, 2009), LTWC released this young bald eagle, who had recovered from an injured wing. Tom Millham of LTWC is handling the eagle with a pair of raptor-handling gloves so that she can't bite or claw him, despite her best efforts.
Many thanks to Carrie Reiter for taking most of these photos and sharing them with us. Click on any photo to enlarge.
Enjoy, and stay tuned for a video of the release!
Join us this Sunday, August 2, for an inside look at LTWC during our Annual Open House!
The Open House, which is from 10am until 4pm, is the only time during the year when LTWC opens its doors to the public for tours of our facility.
We have a full house of orphaned and rehabilitating wildlife this year, including baby river otters, coyote pups, a weasel, a mink, barn owls, raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, lots of baby birds and -- of course -- our five bear cubs!
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is located at 1485 Cherry Hills Circle, which is right off of Elks Club Road in Meyers. For directions, click here.
Don't miss it!
Adam and Celeste Deem just let us know that copies of Saving Li'l Smokey are now available for purchase! Click the link below to order your copy today. ($11.99 + tax and shipping)
This is an orphaned Steller's Jay chick, so young it hasn't grown feathers or opened its eyes yet!
Two orphan Chickaree Squirrels, who both have cataracts in their right eyes -- we assume this is a genetic anomaly for the siblings. They're otherwise healthy (and hungry) little guys.
A baby Bald Eagle. Bald eagles do not develop their distinctive white head feathers until they reach maturity, usually in their fifth year.
One of the two orphaned Coyote pups at LTWC, peeking around the opening of its den (a crate).
These shots of the pups were taken a few days after the one above, after they had been moved into a larger enclosure, full of lots of straw for them to nestle into. They're either camera-shy or really, really comfortable in there.
Two of four orphan Barn Owls at LTWC. Barn owls have been given a variety of unsettling nicknames, such as "ghost owl," "demon owl," and "death owl," likely because they make a hissing noise that sounds (to me) like a haunted snake pit. Despite these names, they are excellent mousers, and an important part of our ecosystem.
This is an orphan River Otter, getting his close-up. Thanks to LTWC board member Helen Tanner for holding him -- the little guy won't sit still for a second on his own! Baby river otters love to play -- and playing actually plays a vital role in their development.
This little guy is still small enough that he stays indoors. But he'll soon be able to enjoy LTWC's River Otter rehab cage -- the only one in California.
If you'd like to see a young River Otter in action, check out this video of another orphaned otter LTWC raised a couple of years ago.
Here, Cheryl is managing to keep the otter still long enough to get him to eat. Although he seems to be enjoying his milk, he'd actually rather be playing.
Here is our first photo of the bears you haven't seen on webcam yet -- three boys from Yosemite. Dr. Willits will examine the cubs next week.
On Saturday, June 6, LTWC received two new bear cubs. Like the two cubs we got on May 29, these are probably about five months old and are also orphans. Unlike the two cubs we already have, however, these two are locals, from the Carnelian Bay area of Lake Tahoe.
Although they've been through an ordeal, they appear to be healthy. They're currently in LTWC's Bear Cage (where the Six-Pack resided last year), but after they're examined, they may be able to join our other two cubs, which would mean a four pack on webcam!
Below are a few photos of the new cubs after they first arrived at LTWC yesterday.
This is the first cub, who arrived a few hours before his/her sibling.
The second cub, arriving at LTWC.
After getting out of the travel crate and into LTWC's Bear Cage, the second cub quickly found the highest, darkest hiding spot he/she could. However, the siblings soon found each other after we left them alone.
These are photos of the two little bear cubs that we got in on Friday, May 29.
The cubs came from Duarte, CA (in L.A. County), at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. They were with their mother when she was shot and killed. The shooter said that the mother bear had been walking through his yard and scared his wife, so he went to get his shotgun and killed her.
It took F&G two weeks to catch these little cubs. They were examined at the Wildlife Investigations Lab in Rancho Cordova on Thursday, May 28th, and LTWC we got the call Friday morning and went to pick them up.
On Friday evening, Dr. Willits examined the cubs, and we were able to take the photos below. Aside from several foxtails found in their ears, they both appear to be healthy. They both certainly have healthy appetites (as our webcam viewers have noted during mealtimes!).
Tom picks up the first bear cub. Both cubs were sedated before Dr. Willits examined them.
The second cub -- a fighter!
Dr. Willits examining the first cub.
Cheryl holding a healthy bear paw!
This photo shows the foxtails that Dr. Willits removed from the cubs' ears. Both of the cubs had inflammed ears thanks to these unwelcome little guests; they're going to be a lot more comfortable without them.
Kool April Nites is happening this week! For those of you who can attend, here's the scoop:
The LTWC Smokey Booth will be at space 122. We'll let you know where that is as soon as we
find out Wednesday.
Schedule
Sue's Tips
Wear comfortable shoes!
Be prepared for warm days and "Kool Nites"! Don't forget sunscreen.
The pancake breakfast is a real bargain at $4, and is served from 7-10AM. There are lots of food and beverage vendors, so you will not go hungry.
Don't miss the Sundial Bridge. It is connected to the
convention center, and is worth the short walk across. If you're warm, you can take the path down to the water. If you like this sort of thing
it is truly a work of art and it's story is very interesting.
You may even
see an eagle and for sure a goose or two.
Sundial Bridge can be found on
google.
Directions:
Interstate 5 north towards Redding.
Exit 678 stay to the left taking Highway 44 to Eureka.
Continue west on Shasta St.
Just past California St., turn left (1/2 block) and turn into RABA Passenger Parking.
Parking is on both sides of the station area, so if one area is busy there is more further down.
RABA is free and runs about every 10 minutes. It will let you off right in front of the car show. It picks you up and takes you back running round trips all day long.
Hi everyone,
We know that many of you are curious about whether Fish & Game have been able to track Li'l Smokey since his release last month. So, we want to let you know that we don't have any news yet, but will let you know as soon as we do!
Keep in mind that due to the state's current budget crunch, anything not necessary has been curtailed or eliminated, such as telemetry flights. However, last week, we got notice from F&G that they had attempted to get near Smokey's den by vehicle, rather than by airplane, in order to track him, but were not able to get close enough due to the snow on the roads in the area (a good thing!). They are hoping that they'll be able to get closer and see if he is still in the same area by the middle of April - just
about the time of Kool April Nights!
Hi Everyone,
We just got the following update from the California Department of Fish & Game:
"The four cubs released north of Truckee were all found alive via telemetry (only hear beeps, don't actually see the bears) and still located near their den sites."
With the arrival of spring, it's time to get rid of our winter design -- and we need your help! We'll be using one of the designs below, but which one we end up using is up to you. Check them out, then cast your vote for your favorite below!
Click on an image to enlarge.
This was the last time Smokey was handled by human hands. It occurred at about
12:35pm, Thursday, February 5, 2009. All three of the California F&G
personnel carried Smokey with a litter from his travel crate to his den,
about 15 feet away.
Once he was placed in front of the den, they lifted him (remember, he is about 100 pounds) from the litter and placed him into the the prepared den with pine boughs and straw. All of this took about 3 minutes, to make sure that his head was facing in the proper direction and that he was able to breathe without interference. Once in the den, then the log boards were placed in front of the den, to protect him. None of them were that heavy and Smokey would have been able to easily move them to get out again. My feeling is that this was an excellent release site.
Tom
In this picture, Adam and I are watching the ear tagging procedure. I am video
taping the process and Adam - at this point - is simply watching. This was
probably about 12:30pm. I think that it was within the next 5 minutes that
Smokey was placed into his den.
This is a view of Smokey's new den, after a thin layer of straw
had been placed against the dirt on the bottom of the den, then a layer of pine
boughs, followed by a handful of straw. Once this was prepared, then the
biologists went up the bank to the truck to get Smokey, bring him down,
anesthetize him, put on his ear transmitter, then put him in the den.
-Tom
Below are just a couple of photos from Smokey's release yesterday, as well as some links to news stories about the release.
Smokey getting his ear transmitter from Nicole Carion, Calif. F & G
Wildlife Rehab. Coordinator.
At 12:35pm, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, Smokey is placed in his release den where he
will no longer be dependent on humans. He is now a wild and free bear.
New Stories:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/02/black-bear-cub.html
http://www.redding.com/news/2009/feb/05/lil-smokey-returned-wilds-siskiyou-county/
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