Residents are urged to close up access to any part of their homes, but many do not. Bryant told ABC7 San Francisco that quite a few bears "have discovered underneath people's homes in their crawl spaces, it's just perfect."
Many Tahoe homes are empty in winter and people often don't even know a bear is there. But sometimes it is obvious and people can hear the bears as they roll around, thump and snore.
That's when people call the Bear League's 24-hour hotline. Trained volunteers will come to your house to help you handle the bear -- safely and humanely.
The Bear League checks on the bears all winter, either evicting them or making their stay safer at the homeowner's request. They let an ABC7 News producer go along. Get more on this story from our sister station, KGO-TV.
