Hank the Tank avoids death, relocation thanks to DNA evidence

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — Turns out Hank the Tank got a bad rap. The rotund black bear from Lake Tahoe that captured international attention won’t be killed or moved to a sanctuary after all.

At least for now.

On Thursday, state wildlife officials issued a pardon and vindication of sorts for the 500-pound black bear that they had originally said was solely responsible for burglarizing nearly three dozen homes in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe over the past few months.

Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday that DNA samples collected from the properties showed that at least two other large black bears had broken into some of the homes.

As a result, the distinctive bear with a light-brown muzzle and an inky black beach-ball shaped body won’t be killed or relocated to a sanctuary — options state officials had been weighing as they decided what to do about the habitual bear burglar.

Instead, state officials said they will begin a neighborhood-wide “trap, tag, haze” effort in Tahoe Keys to try to keep all three bears, including Hank, out of homes.

“During this effort, CDFW will gather information and learn from scientific analysis to help inform and refine our bear management in the Lake Tahoe Basin,” the wildlife agency said in a written statement. “CDFW is not going to euthanize any bears that are trapped during this effort.”

Any of these bears could still end up in a trap, and shot by a government official, however, because of a separate process.

Under California law, someone who has property damaged by a bear and meets a set of requirements could request a permit from the state to have a government bear trap placed on their lots, said Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

If caught, the bear would then be killed if evidence, such as DNA, proved it was the same bear that broke in. Last fall, at least three different property owners in Tahoe Keys received permits to have a trap placed on their lots, though it’s not clear whether they did any trapping, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The story of Hank the Tank took off in early February when state officials announced that they were setting out traps to catch the bear that for more than seven months, “and despite intense hazing and other mitigation efforts,” had caused extensive property damage in 33 cases in and around Tahoe Keys.

Dead bolted doors, officials said, were no obstacle. The fat bear would just push them open. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department received more than 150 complaints about the bear that officers started calling “Hank the Tank.”

He was declared a “severely foodhabituated bear” under California’s 2022 black bear policy that gives state officials the authority to either euthanize a problem bear or move it to a new forested area or a licensed animal sanctuary.