Three bear cubs captured and safely released near Lake Tahoe
Submitted by editor on Wed, 07/16/2014 - 4:25pm
Three five-month old black bear cubs were captured and released Wednesday along Kingsbury Grade near Stateline at Lake Tahoe. Nevada Department of Wildlife personnel captured the three cubs in a trap but the mother of the bears eluded capture.
The cubs, a female and two males, were tranquilized and processed by a NDOW biologist with the female bear never more than about 40 yards away while the cubs were being examined. The processing includes attachment of identifying ear tags, a tattoo on the bear’s inner lip, the affixing of a microchip and the taking of a sample of hair for DNA purposes, according to a news release.
The cubs, weighing from 15 to 22 pounds, were released and reunited with their mother as soon as they awakened from the effects of the tranquilizer.
The female is estimated to be about 19 years of age and has had at least three litters and 10 cubs since she was first captured in 2004 by NDOW.
“Besides tagging the female in 2004, we have now tagged the 10 cubs she has had since. She and her offspring have provided a lot of information to our ongoing research on Nevada’s black bear population,” said NDOW black bear biologist Carl Lackey.
Since July 1, NDOW has safely released 9 black bears after trapping them.
“We are doing our best to keep these bears alive and wild,” said Lackey. “The information we derive from this ongoing research helps do that.”
“To keep bears like this alive and wild, people throughout the Tahoe Basin need to do a much better job of keeping trash away from these bears. Human sources of food are bad news for bears! We do not need another generation of garbage bears at Lake Tahoe or anywhere else,” said Lackey.
July is BEAR Logic month in Nevada. The Nevada Department of Wildlife is asking people to do all they can to keep bears safe and wild by removing any attractants on their property which might lead bears get into trouble.
