The historic drought in the western United States has led to a surge of hungry black bears coming down from the Sierra Nevada in search of food.
In this photo provided by Nevada Department of Wildlife, a black bear captured in Carson City earlier in the day sits in a trap outside the Nevada Department of Wildlife headquarters in Reno, Nev., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014, awaiting its release back to the wild.
Just this week, nine black bears were captured in the Lake Tahoe area in a two-day span, Nevada Department of Wildlife officials said Thursday. Two mother bears and three cubs were captured in Reno, Nev., while a sow and two cubs were corralled near Stateline. A 2-year-old bruin was caught near Carson City. A 10th was struck and killed by a car in Reno.
"Nothing much gets in the bear's way when they are this hungry," Carl Lackey, the agency's chief wildlife biologist, told the Associated Press. "Nature's dinner bell is ringing." According to officials, 42 black bears have been caught since July 1, and 40 were released back into the wild. Two repeat offenders had to be killed, the agency said; 10 were killed by cars.
The influx was expected. The drought, coupled with cooler temperatures, has resulted in the bears coming down from the foothills to scavenge residential areas for food in preparation for winter hibernation. According to Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Chris Healy, bears typically eat up to 25,000 calories a day - the equivalent of 83 McDonald's cheeseburgers, he said.
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