Bear trap set near Kahle playground

A bear trap at Kahle Community Center is causing controversy. Photo/Toogee Sielsch

A bear trap has been placed at Kahle Community Center by the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

An employee at the Stateline recreation facility said a bear has been wandering through the playground area close to young children. The trap was placed on Sept. 21.

Chris Healy with NDOW said the bear has been getting into dumpsters at the restaurants below the park.

“Bear will be tagged and given onsite aversive conditioning in hopes of altering the behavior,” Healy told Lake Tahoe News. “People who interfere with this process are actually creating worse/more dangerous bears by stopping us from doing aversive conditioning, which we’ve proven works with our own research. Knowing that this bear was in the area and coming through the park during daylight hours, we wanted to set the trap in order to catch the bear and give it the same aversive conditioning.”

Not everyone using the recreation facility has been happy there is a trap, and have voiced their concerns to Kahle staff.

“The Bear League sees the placing of a baited bear trap in the middle of Kahle Park on Lower Kingsbury Grade as irresponsible. It also goes against one of the stated goals of the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s bear management program to mitigate human/bear interactions,” Toogee Sielsch, Bear League board member, told Lake Tahoe News. “This baited trap sits within 10 feet of the family picnic cabana, 20 feet from the outside bathroom facility, and 30 feet from the small children’s playground.”

— Lake Tahoe News staff report