Save Nevada Bears - Act Now!
On June 25, 2020, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDoW) killed a young mother bear who was caring for two cubs. She was accused of ripping out the garage door panels on a home in Incline Village, NV.
On June 28, 2020, NDoW struck again. Another female bear was killed for the crime of entering through an open sliding glass door, grabbing a jar of peanut butter, and leaving. She was trapped, and despite neighbors being told she'd be relocated, NDoW opted to take her life.
This is not a new problem. Between 2017-2019, NDoW captured 20 different bears. Some of these bears were also killed by NDoW or moved to an area where trophy hunting is permitted and subsequently killed by a hunter.
Yet these so-called "problem" bears are solely the product of problem humans. Selfish Nevada residents in the Tahoe region fail time and again to properly secure their homes and use common sense bear-proofing measures. And instead of working toward creating appropriate laws and enforcement measures ensuring that those choosing to live in nature do so in a responsible manner, the Nevada Wildlife Commission (which is constituted primarily of those interested in killing wildlife rather than preserving it) and NDoW opt to kill Nevada's wildlife.
To compound this problem, the Nevada Wildlife Commission and NDoW also sanction an unscientific yearly black bear trophy hunt putting the state's population of approximately 3-400 bears at even greater risk.
CompassionWorks International calls on Governor Steve Sisolak to intervene and address the following points:
1. Effect an immediate change in the make-up of the Nevada Wildlife Commission to reflect the will and goals of the people of Nevada, not special interest groups.
2. Mandate a reevaluation of black bear management policies within NDoW to ensure that bears are not killed due to human fault.
3. Regulate the residents in Nevada's Tahoe basin making mandatory common-sense measures that lessen the likelihood of wildlife-human conflict in the region.
4. End the Nevada black bear trophy hunt, which involves "hounding," a practice so unfair and cruel that it is already banned in many states.
