NDOW captures bear spotted in Reno tree near 4th and Keystone

Game wardens captured a bear that was spotted in a tree near Fourth Street and Keystone Avenue west of downtown Reno on Thursday, May 21.

“The bear safely came down from the tree and entered a culvert trap,” the Nevada Department of Wildlife wrote on Facebook just before 3 p.m. “NDOW staff have secured the bear, and it is being transported for processing to determine its age and sex.”

Bears can be a common occurrence in Reno as the animals wander down from the mountains into the city.

Last year, NDOW told the Reno Gazette Journal that it got about 15 calls a month in September and October about bear activity in Northern Nevada as the animals searched for food before winter.

Bear-human interactions can be dangerous for both bears and humans. NDOW recommends securing garbage, keeping a clean yard and never approaching bears when you see them in order to avoid potentially dangerous encounters with the wild animals.

Are bears in Nevada unusual?

Bears lived in Nevada long before the first settlers came to the region. But by 1900, bear populations had been destroyed for a variety of reasons, including unregulated hunting, conflicts with settlers’ livestock and clear-cutting of forests.

Conservation and habitat regeneration increased bear populations in Nevada dramatically since the 1980s.

You can learn more at the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s website.