Record year for bear sightings, experts say

RENO -- From the state Department of Wildlife in Reno to law enforcement agencies throughout the Sierra, telephones have been their busiest ever with people calling in about a common problem: bears.

"I cannot emphasize enough the seriousness of this problem," staff biologist Carl Lackey said. "We need people to use bear-proof garbage cans and restrict other human food sources for bears."

Lackey said it's a record 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," he said.

The department's Reno area dispatchers have received dozens of bear calls a day since early June. Dry conditions, lack of natural forage and availability of human foods started bringing black bears into urban areas.

Washoe County sheriff's Sgt. Carl Barnett said his office is averaging 12 to 15 bear-related calls a day. Eighty percent of those calls result in actual bear sightings, he said.

Last week's slaying of a 660-pound black bear has turned a summer full of bear sightings in Incline Village into a more serious matter.

"Let's hope we never have someone injured or killed, and that's what starts people to care and be more aware," Lackey said. "Then people will be scrambling for a bear-proof container only because someone had to get hurt.

It also has been a record year for bears killed on highways, according to Ann Bryant, executive director of the BEAR league based at Lake Tahoe. She said at least 21 bears have been killed by cars this year, surpassing the precious record of 19 set in 2005.

She said her group has been receiving 150-200 calls a day, compared to about 50 two years ago.

The Tahoe Basin has the second highest density of black bears in North America, Department of Wildlife officials say.

The bears are protected by state law, which makes it illegal to shoot one unless a person or livestock is being immediately threatened.

"Seeing a bear tipping over garbage cans and drinking out of a horse tank is not an imminent threat," Lackey said. "I simply cannot respond to these lower priority calls."