State issues plea on bears

The Nevada Department of Wildlife dispatch is so inundated with bear calls from the Virginia City Highlands, Gardnerville and Galena Forest areas that staff biologist Carl Lackey is asking the public for help.

"I cannot emphasize enough the seriousness of this problem," said Lackey. "We need people to use bear-proof garbage cans, and restrict other human food sources for bears." Lackey said it's a record breaking year, not only for the number of bear calls, but for the number of bears that have had to be euthanized as well. "It's the bears that pay the price when people don't take care of their garbage," said Lackey.

Wildlife's Reno area dispatchers have received an average of 15 to 40 bear calls a day since early June, when dry conditions, lack of natural forage and availability of human foods started bringing black bears into urban areas.

In order to deal with the problem, NDOW is requesting additional general funds from the state budget office to support two additional part-time seasonals - a Conservation Aide and a dispatcher.

The lack of moisture and resulting lack of berries and other natural foods, hasn't helped at all, said Lackey. "The drought drives them out of their natural forage areas into neighborhoods along the Sierra front, where the pickings are good," said Lackey.

So the real issue is that humans continue to leave unattended garbage and other enticing things out that attract the wild bears into neighborhoods. "The animals are very tolerant of humans, and very adaptable to urban environments, and then we are feeding them in our backyards," said Lackey. "Basically, homeowners are attracting birds with bird feeders, deer with ornamental shrubs, and coyotes with little pets and pet food. This in turn attracts the larger predators like mountain lions and bears. People have made their backyards better habitat than the wildlife can find anywhere else."

Some residents in the Virginia City Highlands have threatened to shoot a bear that is getting into garbage there, but as Lackey points out "the solution is so much simpler, don't allow the bear access to your trash and he will leave all on his own."

Under Nevada state law black bears are a protected game species. It is illegal to kill a bear unless you or your livestock are imminently threatened.

"Seeing a bear tipping over garbage cans and drinking out of a horse tank is not an imminent threat," said the weary biologist. "I simply cannot respond to these lower priority calls. In fact, do not even call us if it is simply an issue of bears and trash. Be responsible and use bear-resistant containers and the bear will disappear."

Lackey says it is a waste of time to remove bears where the garbage is still available. "Another bear will simply move in to take the first one's place, and relocation doesn't work either, the bears always return."

With the ongoing presence of easy food, some bears become bolder in residential areas, giving the impression they don't fear humans. These bears, which are referred to as "habituated," can become dangerous.

If a neighborhood can control its garbage, Lackey can then come in and attempt to retrain habituated bears to avoid residential areas.

Lackey and his two Karelian Bear Dogs --Stryker and Rooster"provide "bear education" which is aversion training, to condition bears that being in neighborhoods is a negative experience. This involves capturing the bear and then tranquilizing it. Once the bear is anesthetized, biological samples and measurements can be taken and an ear tag is applied. The bear is then released in the same area it was captured, shot with rubber bullets and hazed by the bear dogs.

"This is a human problem, not a bear problem. As always the main issue is people living in bear habitat and allowing bear's access to their trash," said Lackey. "We've proven that by stopping access to human sources of food the wildlife conflicts almost totally disappear, but most people don't want to do that until they have a bear knocking on their front door, and by that time it's too late."