In vacant houses—which are plentiful in resort communities like
Tahoe—bears turn on faucets and burners, usually by bumbling into them.
Last year, a utility-company employee noticed a spike in water use at
one home; bears had moved in. “They had defecated everywhere. The walls
and carpet were covered in mold,” another state employee said at Bear
Fest. Bears that den beneath homes and businesses can dislodge
insulation and wiring, some of which keeps the pipes from freezing.
Bears are “capable of breaking down anything they want” in their quest
for calories, Welch told me. “There’s nothing bear-proof—I don’t care
how thick a door is, or if it’s metal. I describe a bear as a
five-hundred-pound police battering ram.”
