Nevada game wardens release Tahoe mother bear and cub into the wild
Two black bears, trapped on Tuesday at Crystal Bay, along Lake Tahoe’s north shore were released Wednesday morning in the mountains above Crystal Bay.
A six-year old, 150-pound sow was caught, along with her cub, on Tuesday morning near the same area where the bears were released. The release was witnessed by a small gathering of about 20 people according to Nevada Department of Wildlife Black Bear Biologist Carl Lackey.
“Hopefully the experience of being handled will stick with the bears and they’ll stay in the wild where they belong. That will only happen if humans are more careful about attracting bears with garbage and other food temptations,” said Lackey.
Both bears were tranquilized, tagged, tattooed and micro-chipped in order to identify them in the future should they come back in to contact with humans. Neither bear had previously been handled by NDOW.
Persons needing to report nuisance bear activity can call the NDOW’s Bear Hotline telephone number at (775) 688-BEAR (2327). For information on living with bears persons can go to www.ndow.org and find the ”Bear Logic” page on the web.