MAMMOTH MAYOR SHUTS TRAP
Published in the July 19, 2025 edition.
The trapping and removal of two bears in Old Mammoth last week has stoked the ire of neighboring residents and the community at large.
Mayor Chris Bubser and her husband David Baron authorized the California Dept. of Wildlife (CDFW) to set traps on their private property.
Bubser declined an interview with The Sheet this week, but we did speak with her husband. Baron said the goal of the operation was to relocate a yearling who was demonstrating signs of becoming a bit too habituated to human contact (see Baron letter page four for his telling of events).
The yearling was caught and relocated, but not without some collateral damage.
On the first night the trap was set (July 11), a five-year old male bear who just happened to be passing through, likely cruising for a mate according to CDFW Environmental Scientist and Bear Biologist Michael Brown, took the bait and was captured.
CDFW subsequently tagged, collared and relocated this bear to the Glass Mountains.
But on the second night (July 12), the yearling was captured and relocated in the Sherwins area beyond the Mammoth Motocross track.
Brown said neither bear had returned to the Old Mammoth area as of Tuesday, July 15.
Former Mammoth Wildlife Specialist and renowned “Bear Whisperer” Steve Searles said that’s unlikely to remain the case.
“The Glass Mountains have no food or water … I’ll bet you $100 that bear is here now.”
As Searles explained, CDFW policy is first-time tag and collar and second time shoot. Two strikes. And that the Mayor and her husband are responsible for one strike each that didn’t have to happen.
“Every bear wearing the bling (collars) from last summer is gone. Ask yourself why.”
“I’m shocked at the reversal,” he continued, “at how quickly things have unraveled since the Town abandoned the bear program … I go up to Lake Mary almost every day to paddle around. Not once this summer have I seen a police officer, Fish and Game personnel, anyone. Once Victor was removed last summer, you got triple the bears moving in and competing for habitat. Quite simply, the more you shoot, the more you shoot.”
Sheet: “Are you suggesting that removing Victor provided a certain degree of job security for Fish and Wildlife?”
Searles: “Hell, yes.”
Perhaps the fundamental point all parties agree on is that there needs to be better wildlife awareness and education – especailly now that there’s no longer a full-time Town employee on call cruising around and talking to people and handing out stickers and hazing nuisance bears.
The Town of Mammoth outlined its program and strategy in a press release it sent out this week (located at right).
But the issues ultimately boil down to people, neighbors, and the constant struggle to remain vigilant when you’re busy and tired and distracted.
It also proves the adage, as Town Councilman Bill Sauser observed during the Victor controversy last summer, “We’ve talked about the tourists as bad players … but there’s only 7,000 people who live in this town and I have seen more offenses by locals than I have by tourists.”
Bubser and Baron are not the only ones in Old Mammoth who’ve had a trap on their property.
Laurey and Jeff Carlson also cooperated with CDFW to host a trap for a week prior – though it did not draw any takers.
In both cases, neighbors say Bubser/Baron and the Carlsons chronically left their garage doors open.
Bubser/Baron neighbor Jerry Woo, who’s lived in his home for 28 years, observed drily, “They leave the garage door open half the time.”
He also noted that a bear had gotten into an unlocked van with food in it which was parked in the Bubser/Baron driveway.
Baron said, “We do not leave our garage door open. That’s not accurate.”
He did acknowledge a van had been broken into by a bear but said the van break-in was unrelated to the purpose of his CDFW call to relocate the yearling.
“Chris [wife] and I have followed the science on this. Yearlings are more adapatable to relocation.”
Area resident Mike Bond was unmoved. “The Mayor has taken it upon herself to become a ‘wildlife expert,’” he said.
“They’re the only ones in the neighborhood who’ve had an issue,” said Bond.
Woo was further annoyed by the insinuation of the Mayor and her husband that his birdfeeder has been the main attractant and is responsible for this whole mess.
“We leave the feeder out during the day,” he explained. “It’s got a ratio of 3 oz. cayenne pepper to 1 oz. of feed.
The yearling cub, he says, wasn’t even big enough to access it.
“Bears walk through our yard and by this house every day,” he continued, noting the oonly time he’s ever had a bear issue it was his own damn fault.
“I forgot a bag of dogfood one day in the car.”
Woo says he talked to Bubser about six weeks ago and told her that if you call ‘em (CDFW), they catch ‘em and they’ll euthanize ‘em.
Searles said Bubser and Baron stopped by his home to talk to him after he posted a photo of the bear trap in their yard which also included their address.
As Baron told The Sheet this week, “I feel safe about the bears, but not about being doxxed. There are crazies who now have our address, people driving slowly down the street … I’m taking down license plate numbers”
Searles was unrepentant. “I told them ’If you’re proud of what you’re doing, talk to the community. Why dodge it? … She [Mayor Bubser] had no remorse. Her only remorse was that she got caught.”
Searles made the following profane post on Facebook this week.
“Mayor Bubsur [sic], you baited, trapped and removed two innocent bears. Fuck you.”
Unsurprisingly, Bubser and Baron find this unsettling. “People noticed the trap in the yard and Steve Searles went crazy,” observed Baron.
As for Carlson, she said she came home one day to find a whole slew of Fish and Wildlife personnel and Town Resource Officers in her driveway.
What she didn’t share, but what was shared by a neighbor, Traci Walker, who was on-site, was that her garage door was open.
And that she’d had two previous instances this year of bears being in the garage.
“This has been an issue (leaving the garage open) for more than a decade,” said Walker.
“I don’t want a war with Laurey but the lack of personal accountability is unacceptable,” added Walker.
For her part, Carlson is wary of the self-righteous attitudes.
“Old Mammoth is my chosen place on earth and I am mindful of my environment. Obviously I don’t want any creatures shot and/or killed … this is the first time I’ve ever had a trap on my property.”
Quite frankly, she was madder about her sunflowers getting chomped by local deer than anything bear-related.
“I’m madder at Bambi than I am at Yogi,” she said.
As Walker says, she’s happy to leave the past where it is. “If this leads to a garage not being left open with trash inside, that’s a win.”
On a side note, Walker is also upset about the Main Lodge parking area situation. She said there have been seven confirmed bear break-ins already this year from long term hiker parking. People are leaving food in their vehicles overnight and guess what happens.
Which brings us back to CDFW’s Michael Brown.
So much of his message was … well, the message we’ve heard for years.
“Our goal is to work with the community to reduce opportunity. Lock up your stuff and store accordingly.
It’s the responsibility of everyone to do their part … we rely on the public to report bear sightings and behavior.
A wildlife hotline has been established: 559.550.7060
We ID bears and intervene when necessary to curb behavior before it gets too far along. Negative conditioning works, he said.
“We have the highest concentration of human-bear conflict in California, if not the country, right here, and the numbers are increasing because our involvement in Mammoth is increasing. “
Mammoth has two times the bear density you’d typically see in the wild.
“We’re all working towards a similar goal – to keep the populations as wild as possible.
“All indicators point to a larger bear population than ever, and a lot more people living and recreating here.”
This, he said, underscores the Importance of educational programs – to teach the naive.
Depredation permits are a last resort, he said.
In the past 10 years, he said CDFW has moved/relocated 15-20 bears
