Family hears ‘odd rumbling’ coming from Tahoe home — and finds 5 bears hibernating

A Lake Tahoe family puzzled by “odd rumbling” beneath their home over the winter discovered the cause when five bears emerged from hibernation, wildlife advocates say.

A mother bear with three of her own cubs and an adopted orphan cub took up residence in a crawl space under the home for the winter, the BEAR League wrote on Facebook.

“It was a home where people lived and they thought they heard some odd rumbling, snoring-like noises but ignored it because it simply didn’t make sense...and the neighbors said they were imagining it because they didn’t hear anything,” the league wrote.

But when the uninvited guests woke up Tuesday, April 19, the family called on the BEAR League for help, the post reads.

“Today the bear family awoke and prepared to exit and the people in the house could no longer deny there was probably a bear under the house,” the league wrote.

Activists trying to shoo the mother bear out of the crawl space were surprised when four 1-year-old cubs also emerged, the league said.

“Wish them luck, everyone,” the post said.

This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Family hears ‘odd rumbling’ coming from Tahoe home — and finds 5 bears hibernating."