A female black bear and her two cubs are back in their natural habitat after they were caught in a southwest Reno neighborhood, eating from fruit trees.
As it gets later into the fall, we're seeing quite a few more bears in the city limits and it's mostly because of the dry year we've had.
"Right now, bears are in a phase called hyperphagia," Wildlife Biologist Carl Lackey said. "They're trying to eat as much as they possibly can, in this late fall period to put on that fat layer for the winter hibernation."
Bears are coming down into the urban areas because there aren't enough berries and pine nuts up in the mountains.
"Using their logic, their point of view, there's a lot more food down there than there is up here," Lackey said.
"They're going to come down and eat the fruit trees," Game Warden Neil Murphy said. "Just don't bother them. They're not going to hurt you. They're not really aggressive. They're just doing their thing."
If you run across a bear, officials say to call the Nevada Department of Wildlife or 911 and the authorities will do the rest.
"These bears are not a threat but with that said, it only takes one time to ruin your day and black bears have the potential to seriously injure or kill people," Lackey said.
These most recent bears are not garbage bears, meaning they are living off natural food.
The mother bear weighs 125 pounds compared to a female garbage bear that usually over-eats and weighs around 300 pounds.
"The best thing you can do is deter the bears away by putting your trash inside, locking stuff up that might be edible or might attract the bears, like oats for livestock," Murphy said.
It's also a good idea to pick your fruit trees to keep bears out of your yard.
Also, beware if you have a koi pond.
You can expect this kind of bear activity for a while because bears don't normally hibernate until December.
Written by Paul Nelson
