SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- Mortality rates continue to increase for bears in the Lake Tahoe area, where 32 bears have died around the lake and the Carson Range this year.
Twenty-two were hit by cars and 10 had to be killed for eating domestic livestock or entering buildings, said Carl Lackey, a wildlife biologist for the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
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Between 200 and 300 black bears now live in the area. Since 1997, 112 bears have died there -- an average of more than 12 a year. More than half of those deaths were because of collisions with vehicles, Lackey said.
Wild bears tend to have two cubs while those in urban areas have three, but two of three urban cubs are killed by cars in the first year of life, Lackey said.
The future is bleak for the animals, primarily because of development at the urban-wildland interface and the garbage that's left unprotected, Lackey said.
He said population here could be saved if people would safely contain their garbage.
