Mama bear and cub caught in Douglas County, released

A female black bear and her cub were caught near Foothill Road in Douglas County on Thursday morning by Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist Carl Lackey. A trap was set in the area 10 days ago amid complaints of bears damaging beehives.

According to NDOW:

The adult female was caught in the trap about 2 a.m. Thursday. The female cub was up a tree, above the trap, when Lackey responded. Lackey tranquilized the adult, dragged it out of the trap and placed it under the tree. The cub came down from the tree and was darted.

“We’ve used that technique successfully before,” Lackey said. “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.”

The bears were safely released Thursday night.

Lackey had captured the older female “roughly in the same area” in 2007 and is estimated to be about 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.

Lackey is working with the owner of the beehives to strengthen the electric fence that was in place when the bears started coming into the area.

To report nuisance bear activity, call the NDOW’s bear hotline at 775-688-BEAR. For information about living with bears, go to www.ndow.org and find the “Bear Logic” page.