Bear caught in Carson City released back into the woods Saturday
More black bears looking to fuel up before bedding down for the coming winter were caught in Carson City by Nevada Department of Wildlife officials Friday and then sent back into the hills on Saturday.
A female black bear without cubs was trapped in west Carson City, an area that has seen it share of bears this fall. The female bear was a recapture from earlier in October when she was first caught in west Carson City.
NDOW biologist Carl Lackey explained that the first time she was caught, she was released without bear aversion tactics such as being chased by dogs and shot with rubber slugs. It may be a reason why she returned to look for food in Carson City.
“When we caught her the last time we did not have the opportunity to perform aversive conditioning treatment on her as she was released near Marlette Lake," said Lackey. "This time she was released southeast of the first location and we used bear dogs and rubber bullets to see if that scares the bear and keeps it away from humans.”
On Saturday in Verdi, a male black bear captured in the Verdi/Gold Ranch area last July was caught again in Verdi, this time raiding a chicken coop. The six to seven year old bear was about 350 pounds when caught in July and now weighs about 400 pounds. The owner of the chicken coop was advised to do more to keep his chickens secure and safe from black bears looking for a meal. Lackey took the male bear well south of Verdi in the Carson Range to release it Sunday morning using the full aversive conditioning treatment.
NDOW and Lackey were assisted this weekend by personnel from the Wind River Bear Institute of Florence, Montana, and more importantly one of their Karelian bear dogs. “We had “Rooster” (Lackey’s Karelian bear dog) and “Soledad”, one of the dogs from Montana assisting on each release.”
The month of November is not as busy for nuisance black bear activity as this past October was but NDOW reminds people living in western Nevada to do all they can to avoid attracting bears to their properties.
Currently, NDOW has only one trap placed in the Caughlin Ranch area of southwest Reno but with unseasonably warm weather forecast for the next few days and a full moon period on tap for next weekend, there is still time for bears to be a potential problem for people who do not take precautions to keep human food sources away from bears.
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