Bear released in wild in a not-very-nice way
RENO — A black bear captured in Verdi after causing property damage has been released back into the wild with a rude send-off.
The Nevada Department of Wildlife said the 325-pound male was captured Tuesday in a culvert trap. But the big bruin has never been in trouble before, so biologists wanted to teach it a lesson.
They released it about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday near where it was captured and gave it the full “aversion” conditioning regiment.
Wildlife officials shot rubber bullets at the bear and Karelian bear dogs gave chase in the area near Gold Ranch.
The goal is to make the bear think twice before wandering back to civilization.
The wildlife agency said it has saved about 400 bears using aversion tactics since the technique was first used in the 1990s.
