DAYTON — A young female bear has been tranquilized and euthanized after a fourth troublesome time around human beings, according to the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
The two-year-old black bear had been handled in August, and October of 2014 while a cub, in conjunction with its sow and a sibling, then again this November before the final encounter this month, said Chris Healy, NDOW’s public information officer.
He said the bear will be checked for encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain.
The 2014 situations, he said, were “basically conflict activity” involving food-seeking in garbage and fruit trees.
This year, the bear contact the initial time was on Nov. 25 in Silver Springs and NDOW took it to Nye Canyon southeast of Smith Valley for what is called a hard release, said Healy.
That means the bear was chased away from humans by bear dogs and shot with rubber bullets to imprint it with fears of human contact.
On Dec. 11, Healy said, the bear was back among human beings in Dayton but it wasn’t found and tranquilized until Thursday night, Healy said Friday.
“She was basically tipping over garbage cans and such,” he said. He said the action now was partly because the bear had shown no fear of humans, kept returning to populated areas for food, and “displayed behavior” that raised questions about possible encephalitis.
Healy said when the bear was tranquilized this time, for example, she not only didn’t try to run as do most bears when a dart hits them, but instead headed toward a warden.
Healy said “she’ll be studied” but noted results of checking won’t be available until after the first of next year.