Wildlife - Active NorCal

Jul- 2021 -

19 July

The Tragic Story of a Bear Cub Hit by a Car in Yosemite

There are speed limits in National Parks and they aren’t just so you won’t miss those stunning views. Bears are…

14 July

Wildlife Officials Relocate Over a Million Hatchery Salmon Due to Klamath River Drought Conditions

Juvenile Chinook salmon are herded by CDFW staff in a raceway at the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery, Siskiyou County, Calif.,…

12 July

Bear Beach? Sightings on the Rise at Crowded Lake Tahoe Destination

Pope Beach is a popular place for locals and tourists to take in the summer sun in South Lake Tahoe.…

11 July

An Ode to Squirrels: The Badass Rodents Living in Your Backyard

Photo by Simone Mascellari 🇮🇹 When a buddy asked if I had seen any of the “Squirrel vs. Rattlesnake” videos on…

11 July

How’d That Get There?! Dead Coyote Found Dangling from Tree in Mammoth

There are a lot of things in nature that can be very hard to explain. Finding a a dead coyote…

8 July

Chico Woman Killed by 400-Pound Grizzly Bear During Montana Camping Attack

On the morning of Tuesday July 6, a 400-pound grizzly bear pulled a Chico woman out of her tent in…

2 July

OPINION: Bear Shooting in South Lake Tahoe Should Be an Opportunity for Education, Not Outrage

The recent incident in which a visitor to South Lake Tahoe returned to his vacation rental one evening and shot…

1 July

Lake Tahoe Tourist Shoots Charging Bear in Vacation Rental

Photo by Marion hobbs A man visiting the Lake Tahoe area returned to his vacation rental after dining out to…

Jun- 2021 -

28 June

VIDEO: Momma Bear and Cubs Take a Dip at a Crowded Lake Tahoe Beach

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jen Watkins (@goldcountrycandles) A momma bear and her three cubs were…

28 June

NPS Ordered to Federal Court to Explain Treatment of Tule Elk in Point Reyes

Photo by Y S The National Park Service has been ordered to federal court on Monday to explain their treatment of…

27 June

Celebrity Bear Known for its Tahoe Shenanigans Has Gone Missing

The “Kings Beach Bear’s” GPS tracking collar as biologists found it this spring on the forest floor. CDFW photo by Mark…

25 June

Brand-New Wolf Pack Discovered in Northern California’s Plumas County

Lassen Pack The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that a new wolf pack has established itself in southern Plumas…

24 June

‘Extremely Rare’ Brown Trout Found in Sacramento River Fish Trap in Redding

At the Keswick Dam on the Sacramento River in Redding, wildlife officials at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery use a…

22 June

VIDEO: Housecat Takes on Approaching Bobcat Outside Humboldt House

A lot of people would fear a bobcat if they saw it in the wild. But sometime housecats aren’t scared…

21 June

VIDEO: Bear Hilariously Climbs into Driver Seat of Tahoe UPS Truck

Bear sightings in the communities surrounding Lake Tahoe have grown at an astonishing rate in the past few years. Flocking…

14 June

Point Reyes Installs Water Troughs to Help ‘Thirsty and Dying’ Tule Elk

Photo by Ronan Furuta Following a year where 152 tule elk died in Point Reyes National Seashore, wildlife officials are attempting…

8 June

Amid Devastating Fish Kill, Karuk Tribe Declares a Climate Emergency in the Klamath Basin

Photo: Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative Amid a massive salmon kill on the Klamath River, the Karuk Tribe has officially declared…

8 June

It’s Illegal to Feed Deer in California. The Penalty? Up to 6 Months in Jail.

Photo by Chloe Leis Late spring and early summer is the peak time for California’s deer herds to give birth to…

2 June

YIKES! Rattlesnake Seen Swimming in Whiskeytown Lake

With the coming of summer in Northern California, snakes of many species are through hunkering down, making human encounters with…

1 June

30,000 Milkweeds Planted Along NorCal Rivers to Save Critically-Low Monarch Butterfly Population

Photo by Patrick Mayor The population of Western monarch butterflies is in a serious decline in California, mostly attributed to the…

1 June

‘How Does Anyone Expect These Fish to Survive?’ Viral Video Shows Terrible Fish Stocking at Twin Lakes

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife spends millions of dollars every year on raising juvenile fish and stocking local…

1 June

Hot Creek Fish Hatchery Halts Planting Following Disease Outbreak

IG/disnerd_runner The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has suspended all fish planting from the Hot Creek Trout Hatchery…

May- 2021 -

25 May

OPINION: Battle Over Shasta-Trinity Spotted Owl is a MAJOR Example Why Northern California Suffers from Catastrophic Wildfires

Photo: Bureau of Land Management The U.S. Forest Service has been attempting to thin a 13,162-acre patch of forest in…

18 May

The Redding Eagles Live Nest Webcam is MUST SEE TV!

It was a monumental event for eagles enthusiasts in March when the eagles in Redding’s Turtle Bay nest hatched three…

16 May

Full-Grown ‘Vampire Fish’ Spotted in the American River

Photo of a lamprey fish on the Feather River. Photo taken by the California Department of Water Resources in 2017.…

10 May

Yet Another Oregon Wolf Settles in Northern California

A gray wolf is caught on camera in Northern California Wolf activity in Northern California is reaching unprecedented levels as…

6 May

Flock of Critically Endangered Condors ‘Absolutely Trash’ California House

Twitter/@SeanaLyn Following near extinction, different programs have successfully brought critically endangered condors back to California. There are only 160 condors…

Apr- 2021 -

29 April

A Wild Life: Stories of Bear and Rattlesnake Encounters in the Wilderness

When you spend enough time in wild places, you’re bound to run into a few of the creatures that call…

26 April

Fifth Dead Whale Washes Ashore in Less than a Month Near San Francisco Bay

Photo: San Francisco Whale Tours Springtime along the Northern California coast is famous for its whale migrations, where gray whales…

25 April

Officials Plan to Drop 2,900 Pounds of Poison on the Farallon Islands. Here’s Why.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife just approved a plan to drop 2,900 pounds of poison-laced bait on the wildlife-rich Farallon…

19 April

WATCH: Drunk Hotel Guest Nearly Bumps Into Bear in South Lake Tahoe

There you have it folks – this is what you get when you mix casinos and 24-hour bars with the…

14 April

You Can Help Name Redding’s Three New Eaglets

It was exciting news when the eagle cam on the Sacramento River in Redding recorded the hatching of three new…

6 April

VIDEO: Bear Falls Through Thin Ice on Frozen Tahoe Pond

The Tahoe region is known for its many bear sightings. From bears breaking into homes, to bears breaking into cars…

6 April

National Park Service Reveals 152 Tule Elk Died in Point Reyes in 2020

Photo by Hari Nandakumar Following the controversial decision to kill Tule Elk in Point Reyes National Seashore in favor of cattle ranchers,…

Mar- 2021 -

31 March

Experimental Release of 186,000 Chinook Salmon Performed Downstream from Spawning Grounds on the Sacramento River

Photo: Golden State Salmon Association Officials from the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, in coordination with the Golden State Salmon Association,…

26 March

More Than 500,000 Spring-Run Chinook Salmon Released Into the Feather River

More than a half million spring-run Chinook salmon smolts were released into the Feather River near Yuba City last week.…

26 March

More Bears with Neurological Disorders Turning Up in Northern California

CDFW photo by Kirsten Macintyre The reports out of Pollock Pines, El Dorado County, last month sounded eerily familiar. A…

25 March

How Wildlife Officials Survey Northern California’s Dead Salmon to Help the Living

Curtis Brownfield, fish biologist for the Service, checks the tag number on a salmon carcass pulled up from the depths…

23 March

For the First Time in a Century, Condors Will Take Flight in Northern California

For the first time in 100 years, the endangered California condor will return to the Pacific Northwest. Once on the…

23 March

Gray Wolf Continues Historic Trek Further South into California

The wolf that made the astounding trek from Oregon to the Eastern Sierra has continued to travel south. The GPS-collared…

23 March

See the Biggest Steelhead Seen at the Coleman Fish Hatchery This Season

Since steelhead were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1998, Coleman Fish Hatchery has been dedicated to growing…

22 March

Campground in Plumas National Forest Closed for Bald Eagle Protection

A section of the Wyandotte Campground in the Plumas National Forest is temporarily closed to protect a bald eagle nesting…

22 March

Redding’s Famed Eagles Welcome New Hatch to their Turtle Bay Nest

The famed Redding eagles have welcomed a new hatch into their Turtle Bay nest along the Sacramento River. Liberty and…

20 March

Abalone Fishing Banned in Northern California Until 2026

While the spring season typically signals the start of the recreational red abalone season, CDFW reminds anglers that the northern…

20 March

5 Million Fall Chinook Salmon Released into the Sacramento River

Officials at the Coleman Fish Hatchery made their annual trip to the Sacramento River this week to release approximately 5…

16 March

Shocking Video Shows Mountain Lion Devouring Cat in the Sierra

We all know that the vicious tendencies of nature are all around us. It’s just a little more shocking when…

12 March

Coyote That Attacked Five People Caught and Removed from Bay Area Community

Photo by Joshua Wilking A multi-agency team of wildlife management professionals and local law enforcement caught and euthanized the coyote that…

12 March

Point Reyes Has a Big Poop Problem

Photo by Claude Piché Point Reyes National Seashore is one of the gems of the National Park System in Northern California.…

10 March

A Wolf Made the Astounding Trek from Oregon to Yosemite. Now Where Does it Go?

A gray wolf made major headlines after it made the long trek across the Oregon border and all the way…

1 March

Gray Wolf Travels from Oregon to Eastern Sierra – The Furthest South Ever Tracked in California

A gray wolf is making major headlines after it made the long trek across the Oregon border and all the…

Feb- 2021 -

24 February

Skiing Legend Finds Bear Living Under His Tahoe Hot Tub

The growing bear population in Tahoe has been heavily documented on this website, with bear-human interactions being scary and hilarious,…

22 February

Volunteer Mauled by ‘Critically Endangered’ Leopard at Oroville Wildlife Sanctuary

Photo: Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary A volunteer at Oroville’s Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary was hospitalized over the weekend…

1 February

Two Brand-New Siskiyou County Wolves Could Create California’s Second Wolfpack

Two Siskiyou County wolves caught on webcam It was a major milestone for wildlife conservationists in California when OR-85, a…

Jan- 2021 -

26 January

Record Number of Bald Eagles Spotted on Lake Tahoe

Photo by Richard Lee It’s a banner year for Bald Eagles in Lake Tahoe. The Tahoe Institute of Natural Science (TINS)…

16 January

Hiker Encounters Crouching Bobcat Near Lake Tahoe

You never know what you might find when hiking in the wilderness. Beautiful views and exercise are typically on the…

14 January

NorCal Deputy Kills Mountain Lion Stalking Family Near Placerville

Photo: El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office A Northern California family went for a seemingly innocuous stroll on a bike trail…

5 January

Deer Freed from Entangled Hammock After Six Months Wandering Around Sacramento

Reports of a buck with an interesting hairdo wandering around Sacramento have been circulating for the past 6 months. Finally,…

Dec- 2020 -

31 December

Young Sea Lion Returned to NorCal Beach Following Shark Attack in San Francisco Bay

The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito has successfully rehabilitated a young sea lion that was attacked by a shark in…

29 December

Activists Defy NPS Orders to Deliver Drinking Water to ‘Thirsty and Dying’ Point Reyes Tule Elk

Photo by Hari Nandakumar There are plenty of people angered at the decision to kill Tule Elk in Point Reyes National…

9 December

NorCal Man Tackles and Punches 350-Pound Bear to Save Dog ‘Buddy’

It was a seemingly normal day for Kaleb Bentham and his pitbull “Buddy” at their rural Grass Valley home when…

3 December

Rare Video: Kayakers Surrounded by Pod of Killers Whales Off the NorCal Coast

Kayakers fishing off the coast of Sonoma County were greeted by a beautiful and somewhat terrifying pod of killer whales…

1 December

Rare Videos Show the Lassen Pack in Action in Northern California

California’s only known wolf pack, the Lassen Pack, more than doubled in size in 2020 with a brand-new litter of…

Nov- 2020 -

24 November

WATCH: Adorable Bear Cubs Play on Busy Yosemite Road

It’s never rare for visitors to Yosemite National Park to see bears. In fact, there have been 36 reported bear…

9 November

Fisherman Battles with Sea Lions for Salmon on NorCal River

Facebook: Tim Bonuccelli When salmon are on the move through the rivers of Northern California to find their spawning grounds,…

7 November

Dungeness Crab Season Delayed in California to Protect Whale Populations

Dungeness crab season in California has seen its fair share of disruptions in recent years as growing whale populations continue…

2 November

10 Shocking Moments of Bears Caught-on-Camera in Tahoe

Bear sightings in the communities surrounding Lake Tahoe have grown at an astonishing rate in the past few years. Flocking…

Oct- 2020 -

29 October

Hiker Goes NUTS Watching Bear Cross Treacherous River in Yosemite National Park

When we visit the wilderness, we’re visiting the home of the vast wildlife that lives there. From birds to deer…

28 October

Family of Coyotes STILL Living in Downtown Sacramento After 6 Months

Although San Francisco has received much of the attention regarding its increased coyote activity during the Covid-19 quarantine, Sacramento has quietly seen…

28 October

Trail Cam Footage Shows Wildlife Fleeing the Flames of the Glass Fire

The flames of the Glass Fire burned through the Wine Country in the months of September and October, blazing 67,000…

27 October

VIDEO: GIANT Great White Shark Seen off the Coast of Northern California

The waters off the coast of Northern California are known as the Red Triangle, which is home to 40 percent…

27 October

WATCH: Mountain Biker Collides with Bear on Northern California Trail

Mountain biker David Sousa was having a great time riding down the Mills Peak trail in Plumas County when he…

24 October

Elusive ‘Humboldt Flying Squirrel’ Seen on Trail Cam in Northern California

Humboldt Flying Squirrel. Photo by Nick Kerhoulas. For over 200 years, scientists believed there were only 2 types of flying…

24 October

700 Winter-Run Chinook Salmon Return to Battle Creek for Spawning

At least 700 sub-adult and adult winter-run Chinook salmon (winter Chinook) returned this year to Battle Creek. Although monitoring efforts…

22 October

An Oral History of the Cantara Chemical Spill on the Sacramento River

Northern California is no stranger to disasters. Over time we’ve lived through earthquakes, volcanos, firenados, floods, mudslides and avalanches. Would…

22 October

What Would the Removal of the Klamath Dams Look Like? Here’s a Lesson from the Largest Dam Removal in U.S. History

Copco Dam on the Klamath River. Photo: California Trout While the proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath…

22 October

Caught-on-Camera: Bear Sings in a Tree in Yosemite National Park

View this post on Instagram Sound on! 🔊 Check out this video of an adult male black bear vocalizing in…

21 October

Yosemite Conservancy Provides $14 Million to Yosemite National Park in 2020

Photo by James Donovan Yosemite Conservancy is providing $14 million to Yosemite National Park in 2020 for restoration, research, preservation and…

13 October

The Fall Spawning of Millions of Salmon on the Feather River is in Full Swing

Alan Sheckter Photography The annual process of spawning millions of salmon is in full swing in Oroville as the Feather…

13 October

Salmon Viewing Kayak Tours Being Offered on the Feather River

Alan Sheckter Photography *Note: The salmon tours have now been sold out, with no announcement of additional tours being offered…

8 October

Park Service Announces Plan to Kill Tule Elk to Appease Ranchers in Point Reyes

The National Park Service has unveiled its plan to extend the leases of ranchers in Point Reyes National Seashore, which…

7 October

Wildlife Officials Release Black Bear Burned in the Bear Fire Back into the Wild

Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife While the human tragedy caused by the devastating wildfires of Northern California can’t…

7 October

Bear Activity Closes Popular Tahoe Salmon Viewing Destination

Flickr/Rose Davies The yearly migration of Kokanee Salmon at Tahoe’s Taylor Creek has become a popular destination for visitors to…

6 October

Firefighters Rescue Mountain Lion Cub Severely Burned in Zogg Fire

Burned Mountain lion cub upon arrival to Oakland Zoo Veterinary Hospital Only four to six weeks old, an orphaned mountain…

Sep- 2020 -

1 September

VIDEO: Kings Beach Gas Station Employee Confronts Tahoe Bear Attempting to Break into Store

The recent weeks have seen a lot of videos of bears entering businesses for human food in the Lake Tahoe…

Aug- 2020 -

31 August

Giant Bear Returns to Tahoe Safeway to Grab a Meal for the 2nd Time in Just Over a Week

WATCH: For the second time in just over a week, a Safeway grocery store in Lake Tahoe got an unexpected…

30 August

VIDEO: Giant Tahoe Bear Wanders into Grocery Store to Score a Bag of Tostitos

Tahoe’s King Beach community is used to having run ins with bears. During the summer months, bears emerge from hibernation…

4 August

Trail Cam Video Shows 8 Healthy Lassen Pack Pups in the Northern California Wilderness

California’s only known wolfpack, the Lassen Pack, more than doubled in size recently with a brand-new litter of eight pups.…

3 August

Bears Hilariously Wander Around a Tahoe Golf Course During PGA Tour Tournament

Photo: PGA Tour If you’re a golf fan, you may have seen videos of golfers coming across alligators in the…

3 August

Video of Shasta Lake Woodpecker Caught on Tree Shows the Importance of Cleaning Up Fishing Line

A video was sent to us by Spencer Mojarro showing him rescuing a woodpecker stuck in fishing line along the…

3 August

Four Bears Were Hit by Speeding Cars in Yosemite National Park in July

Photo: National Park Service The bear activity in Yosemite National Park has surged since the park has enacted limited visitation…

Jul- 2020 -

21 July

Lassen Pack Welcomes New Litter of Pups, Growing California’s Only Known Wolfpack to 14

California’s only known wolfpack more than doubled in size recently with a brand-new litter of eight pups. It’s the fourth…

17 July

Lassen Expands Camping Closure Due to Bear Activity

The areas surrounding Cinder Cone are part of the camping closures on the east side of Lassen Volcanic National Park.…

15 July

Conservation Collaborative Releases 115 Zoo-Reared Frogs into the Plumas National Forest

Photo: Rebecca Fabbri/USFWS By Rebecca Fabbri/USFWS Recently, 115 Foothill yellow-legged frogs, hailing from the Oakland Zoo, called the Plumas National…

8 July