Mama bear, cub caught-released on same day

The black bear and cub that were caught in the Foothill Road area of Carson Valley were released tonight in the foothills of Douglas County near Kingsbury Grade by the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

The two bears were caught early Aug. 15. A trap had been set in the area 10 days ago because there were complaints of bears doing damage to beehives.

The mama bear wondered into the trap at about 2am Thursday. But her cub wanted nothing to do with that “den” and decided to stay in a tree with her eye on mom.

This black bear and her cub were returned to the wild tonight. Photo/Provided

NDOW officials tranquilized the female, dragged her out of the trap and placed her under the tree. The cub came down to check on mom. That’s when the little one was tranquilized.

“We’ve used that technique successfully before,” Carl Lackey, biologist with NDOW, said in a statement. “By luring the cub from the tree, we can dart it without the bear falling out of the tree and possible getting hurt or killed.”

Lackey said the female bear was caught years ago in about the same area. She is estimated to be 14 years old.

“We performed aversive conditioning before and she stayed away seven years. We’ll do it again to her and the cub when we release them and they should get the message to stay away from human activity,” Lackey said.

In addition to capturing the two bears, Lackey also is working with the owner of the beehives to strengthen the electric fence that was already in place when the bears first started coming into the area.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report