Burned bear cub Tamarack, which escaped facility, will stay in South Lake Tahoe tree

The Tamarack Fire bear cub will remain in the wild.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care responded Friday afternoon to the location of the reported sighting of Tamarack Fire bear cub. Officials watched the location with binoculars for a few hours.

The cub had a dark marking on its head and it was approximately the same size. The 8-month-old bear climbed 30 feet higher into the tree from where it was first spotted.

The bear did not have bandages on it and had no sign of injury. Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care staff are not certain it is the bear cub but they feel strongly it is. “It was behaving as a wild and healthy bear should,” Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care staff said in the Facebook post.

Officials decided to leave the bear cub in the wild.

“It had many of the signs you wanted to see in a healthy wild bear,” California Department Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira said. “Literature has shown that bear cubs can survive on their own in the wildlife at 8 months and younger.”

“The ultimate goal with all the bears being treated for burns is to get them into the wild,” Tira said.

Officials have asked the public to stop looking for the Tamarack bear.