Sabotage of Incline Village Bear Traps

Over the weekend wildlife activists in Incline Village foiled an attempt by the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s to catch problem bears. 

Last week, bears broke through garage doors to get to the garbage inside. Chris Healy is with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. 

“They can smell that little pot at the end of a rainbow and breaking in through a garage door to get it done is not a problem,” said Healy.

The department set traps, which Healy says caught the attention of wildlife activists.

 “The trap was tampered with, there was ammonia-soaked teddy bears and things like that thrown in there and so the bears are dissuaded from the ammonia. Well you can’t surround all of Incline Village, or everyone’s house with ammonia, so these bears are going to be wandering around,” said Healy.

He says there is a misconception that the department kills every bear it catches. In reality wildlife manager try to scare bears enough to convince them to avoid people. Healy says activists tampering with traps enable bears to continue to break into homes. In the end he says that will be more dangerous for people and for the bears.