GARDNERVILLE " A mother bear and two cubs have been destroyed after breaking into homes in a subdivision south of Gardnerville, wildlife officials said.
Carl Lackey, a biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist Carl Lackey, said residents in the Pine View Estates subdivision had been feeding the bears, and the animals soon graduated to ripping off front doors and breaking into garages in search of food.
The mother mother bear was first caught in 2000 when she was getting into trash cans, Lackey said. At that time, she was released back into the wild and hadn't been seen since this year.
"We've been after her since June," he said.
While cubs normally are rehabilitated, Lackey said these two nine-month old bruins were destroyed because they were already breaking into homes on their own.
"A fed bear is a dead bear. They were pretty habituated," he said.
The bears were captured and killed on Tuesday.
The wildlife agency so far this year has trapped 80 bears in an area stretching from Reno to south Douglas County and west to Lake Tahoe. Of those, eight were euthanized.