Nevada officials kill Kingsbury Grade bear
For the second time this week the Nevada Department of Wildlife euthanized a black bear in Lake Tahoe.
A female bear, about 18 months old, was trapped between Thursday night and Friday morning in the Kingsbury Grade area.
The trap was set earlier this week after a bear in the area, fitting the description of the bear caught Aug. 28, had entered two houses in search of food. The bear was euthanized as a threat to public safety.
It was the fifth bear euthanized this year as a threat to public safety. A 9-year-old male bear was captured and euthanized this past Aug. 25 in Incline Village as a threat to public safety.
“We hate having to do this, but a bear entering a house is a dangerous bear and the Nevada Department of Wildlife is obligated to manage the situation,” NDOW spokesman Chris Healy said in a press release. “We have an obligation to public safety that we do not take lightly. People have called and asked us to move the bear, but we cannot move a bear that we know to be dangerous, that just would not be prudent.”
Healy advises that people in “bear country” have a special obligation to not attract bears to their property. “Garbage that is carelessly managed and left available to bears is what creates situations like today. If you want to keep bears alive and wild, then you need to not attract them to your property where they become habituated to human sources of food.”
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
NDOW WAS TO LAZY TO RELOCATE THE BEAR, Karl Lackey is bear Hungry,And loves to kill the Bears.No Excuses ,Just lazy.More will be killed because of laziness.Mr Sandoval You won again,Hunting season will be here soon, Its already here if you think about it,
There seem to be three concepts missing from the NDOW bear management program.
1. Common sense. Killing should be a final-final solution used only after every other avenue of deterrent and aversion technique has been actually used and exhausted. And there should be a way to guarantee you are actually trapping the offending animal. More often than not the places where a bear is trapped are thoroughfares for multiple bears.
2. Personal responsibility. Hold humans who are ultimately responsible for this situation accountable. If homeowner desires to take the easy way out because they are too lazy to use simple techniques to bear-proof their home and instead simply have a bear trapped and probably murdered by NDOW, that homeowner should be billed for the entire cost incurred.
3. Coexistence with our native wildlife!
And I also want to remind every person that reads this that in the history of the State of Nevada and the State of California no wild black bear has been responsible for the death of a human being. Not one! Most interactions with black bears that have caused any injury, what some term as “attacks”, are actually cases where a human startled a bear and was standing in between the bear and it’s escape route to safety, causing it to physically move that person out of the way.
This nonsense by NDOW needs to stop. Now. Even a zoo or wildlife sanctuary would be a better alternative than euthanizing simply for breaking into a house.
What is missing in these stories is a more direct connection between the lax rules around trash and bears getting shot. Folks seem to be outraged when bears are killed yet don’t report when bears are getting into trash, don’t push the folks crafting the rules to add any teeth to them, and basically don’t do enough to change the status quo which is a bunch of bears are killed every year around Tahoe because people feed them. It’s sad but it’s certainly not a surprise.
Bear have a ultra-powerful sense of smell, they can smell us miles away, long before we can see them, it is their greatest asset to survive. Point being Bear will break into anything if they smell food, I suspect folks who are leaving food out around the kitchen, a Bear will catch the scent of something it can eat, thus break in. Keep food in the fridge, I willing to bet that even the scent of fruit will attrack a Bear, and they love sweets as in cake, cookies, etc. They have trained nose’s now for our food, they will eat anything really.
So please be Bear smart, don’t leave food out or leave garbage in your garage when you leave home, as I said before vest in a true Bear proof garage container, this will save many Bear.
PS
They will break into your car for a snack as well, and they been known to leave behind a nice BIG surprise for you.
Toogee, how do you hold people personally responsible who are just plain irresponsible?
I have vacation rental neighbors who leave out food because they want to see bears. Am I supposed to call the contact people who just don’t care, I’m sure as heck not going to get those renters because when I find out they are GONE. I’m sure as heck not going to call the bear league. Calling the police is useless because when they get around an hour later the bear is gone.
A neighbor told me a local is feeding bears because they are cute. Then I was told another neighbor is leaving out poisoned meat to kill bears?
How do you prove these people are doing these things and levy a fine on them? Its not like I can have a camera on them 24/7 from my property, or can I?
Another bear killed.Please keep your trash and food away from the bears.Be smart about bear behaviour and their sense of smell and their power to break into just about everything. OLS
Another bear killed.Please keep your trash and food away from the bears.Be smart about bear behaviour and their sense of smell and their power to break into just about everything. OLS
Louis, why do you say you are sure as heck are not going to call The Bear League? I am part of The Bear League and if I can’t do anything, at least I can help to make sure a complaint is logged with the proper authorities if warranted.
Personally I would never call the bear league either. (been there done that). They threaten and harass people that don’t agree with them, and if your lucky your name and address will be blasted all over their facebook. When people start considering bears neighborhood pets is where the problem starts.
I think we should start euthanizing people who feed bears, and people who don’t secure their trash. I bet there would be a mad rush to get bear boxes then !
yeah, let’s kill all of the things.
10 minutes later ,Another bear trap set ,Here we go again, and again and again,Mr larkey ,Nevada wild care center ,you need help ,Anyone out there able to drive these people to the Mental Hospital for shock treatments ? they need help fast, Its time for the people in Incline to get help also,They dont understand about Bears.or trash,Its hunting time soon, but it looks like that is going on now ,dont you think ?
Toogee, I’m afraid of the bear league. Too many people who’ve gotten on their bad side have gotten death threats (not from the league but when word gets around). Just look at the comments to this article, count how many people have actually posted that they want humans killed? As of now I see two comments about killing people. I don’t want death threats, I don’t want people feeding and hurting the wildlife, but I see no (effective) way to stop any of it.
The NDOW is not the problem they have to deal with bad public behavior that is the problem. Also, I no longer will consider the Bear League legitimate unless and until Ann Bryant resigns and the league denounces it’s threatening and intimidating tactics.
Maybe the Garbage/Refuse Company can document addresses that have no lids secured to garbage cans (voice activated recorder in the truck), and give a “warning”, subject to fine if not corrected. I see so many garbage cans out on garbage day without lids.
Personally I would never call the bear league either. (been there done that). They threaten and harass people that don’t agree with them, and if your lucky your name and address will be blasted all over their facebook. When people start considering bears neighborhood pets is where the problem starts.
I use to work at a zoo down south before I moved here that one of our problem bears was moved to after I had been living here for a while.
If you knew the quality of life that animal endured, I believe he has died you would be ashamed of wishing that on any creature.
The physical environment was hot humid smoggy and flea ridden.
I doubt they treated his fleas if they did it would have been with a hose end sprayer.
The staff there at the time were idiots.
Animals were dying because of improper care.
The reason I left.
The zoo was small and had a lot of traffic it was very noisy.
During opening hours he would have been subjected to constant verbal harassment.
Sitting on hot concrete or compacted decomposed granite all day, not much of a life.
Black bears are surplus animals in the Zoo trade, no one wants them.
I worked for Lion Country Safari when they closed no one wold take the black bears or lions, they were taken off sight in trucks out into the desert and shot.
The choice not to euthanize them on sight was political.
They felt that they couldn’t take the risk of word getting out that the animals died on sight.
So rather than give them a painless death they put them through the terror of moving them off sight and killing them in the shipping container.
THERE IS NO PLACE FOR PROBLEM BEARS !!!
Euthanasia is an act of kindness.
Get informed before you spew.
Any garbage can has to be animal/bear proof. A plastic lid on a plastic trash can is worthless.
At a cost of $1000 to $1500, a bear box is a very small expense compared to the selling price of homes, and just pennies compared to the rent the VHR’s charge.
Every change of ownership should require a bear box to be installed.
Stop whining about it and get it done !
Save our wildlife !
Keeping to myself
Perfect name !
You are a big part of the problem with the zoos and treatment of the animals because you don’t speak up.
The rest of us don’t need to grow up, we need to be informed so we can work on making changes to the horrific situations you speak of.
People could be smarter than ‘the average bear’ and do things like leave the radio or TV on when you are away from the house. Get a male dog and have it mark it’s territory. Bears are dying because some humans are lazy and plain stupid. These scenarios will keep playing out until the humans in the equation change their behaviors. I’ve lived on a game trail for more than 3 decades and no bears have had to be reported and killed for bear-like behavior! (mostly because of great advice early-on, from Ann Bryant).
Steven,
This was during the time of Anita hill.
I did speak up.
And like her I was shredded.
I was harassed to the point I finally quit.
Speaking up ultimately cost me my job.
It is a political system and unless you have been involved in a situation like that a little peg in a huge bureaucracy..
squeaky wheels are quickly silenced…eliminated.
I am no longer involved in animal work because of the hypocrisy.
I didnt learn about Lion Country till years after it happened…
Thats prime property in Orange County and the company was owned by some lawyer the closing was some merger we learned about from reading the Sunday paper, they didn’t even tell the staff they were closing the park.
Think anyone cares what happened to a few animals?
Thats big money.
Lions and Bears are a dime dozen.
We couldnt pay anyone to take them.
I did speak up….
dont tell me Im part of the problem..
you dont know me.
I fought years…
worked in rehab 24/7
worked a oil spill and worked a fulltime job had a baby to care for at the time too
And you say Im part of the problem..
Thanks
Steven,
Thought about it..
I have a challenge for you !
You want to make a difference ?
See if you can do something about the living conditions for the critters at 6 flags in Vallejo !
If anything get non pressure treated wood for the hoofstock to chew on.
Those animals there are just on display to sell items in the gift shops .
Start setting NDOT traps!.. Criminals!…
If you care that much about the bears, demolish your house and move away. Cause let’s remember, we’re you go to bed at night use to be the bears territory.
I like it when nature folk freak out about nature issues but they live in houses and drive there vehicles in what use to be the nature. I think there’s a word for that.
maybe some of you folks could train the Bears to ride motorcycles for the Russian Circus.
I’d like to see the media come up with a better word for this than “euthanize”. My dictionary says euthanasia is “The act of painlessly ending the life of a person for reasons of mercy.”
I won’t touch on the personhood of bears, but I do take issue with the notion that “nuisance bears” are being put down as an act of mercy. They’re not. They’re being put down for the comfort, convenience and, in some cases safety, of humans who failed to do what is required to keep the bears wild.
Perhaps we should call it what it is: “death by lethal injection” or the more concise “execution”. We execute criminals. We execute “nuisance bears”. We should call it what it is.