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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — After 35 years of choosing to share the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe side by side with the critters that were here long before us humans, I am ready to wave the white flag to the massive black bear who has been terrorizing our quiet, peaceful neighborhood. What started out as the usual garbage can and garage break ins, savoring tasty discarded garbage prior to a long winter's nap, has escalated to brazen door smashing, refrigerator clearing and house trashing rampages, with no end in sight.
Last fall, my neighbor came home to find our furry friend had pushed open her French doors and helped himself to some goodies she had left out on the counter. As she attempted to clean up, he returned and was only kept out by her holding her backside against the door as he pushed from the other side. He obviously was unaware of a Portuguese mother's determination to save her Costco muffins. Fortunately, neither was injured this time.
This summer, after numerous local garage door break-ins, another neighbor had presumably the same bear (common characteristic ... HUGE!) break her back door right off the hinges and had a feast with the contents of her fridge and cupboards, doing a fair amount of damage along the way. After he came back the second night for a repeat performance, I screwed some 4x8 sheets of plywood to the door frame to try to keep him from coming back again. The third night my neighbor's fiancé spent the night with a loaded 44 magnum to confront any further intrusion.
My plywood barrier proved a formidable obstacle for this hungry giant ... so he went over to the sliding glass doors and lifted them off the track. As our armed groom-to-be tip toed down the stairs to confront the massive beast, the bear started toward him. He fired one shot right between the eyes. The powerful bullet was no match for the thick skull of this giant menace as it glanced off but sent him whirling about the kitchen trashing every thing in sight. Another shot hit the bear in the shoulder and sent him scrambling out the back door.
A post-midnight call to Carl Lackey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife brought the late hour calvary only to realize they had brought the wrong breed of tracking dogs and the bear escaped into the night, wounded and now even more dangerous. The setting of bear traps in the area resulted in the capture of some smaller offspring, but “Big Bubba” wouldn't take the bait.
After 3 to 4 weeks of relative calm, yet another neighbor had a “HUGE” black bear break through both of her garage doors on successive nights. He also ransacked a few other neighbor's garages in the same week, preferred method of entry ... smash a hole big enough to crawl through. The garage door companies in the area are having a banner year!
After Friday's first good snow of the year we hoped Big Bubba and his kin had had their fill and were snuggling into a nice long hibernation and we would deal with this next year. No such luck! Now the same neighbor who went back to back with this unruly beast at the French doors had him back again. This time he wasn't as polite. He simply tore the French door off the hinges and came in for some late night snacks. In addition to ransacking the kitchen, with his purported 700 pound mass, he managed to break their new granite counters. More plywood barriers managed to keep Big Bubba out of the house the next night but he did decide to tear down the fence since they had locked the gate! The same neighbor's significant other is now arming himself and threatening to set up a blind on the roof of the house and lay in wait for his return.
Where will this story of nature's own terrorist end? Unfortunately, when a bear this large and this destructive has learned such behaviors, there is really only one alternative. Let's just hope that his demise comes soon, before we are reporting the loss something much more serious than food and property.
— Frank Cates is an Incline Village resident.
Last fall, my neighbor came home to find our furry friend had pushed open her French doors and helped himself to some goodies she had left out on the counter. As she attempted to clean up, he returned and was only kept out by her holding her backside against the door as he pushed from the other side. He obviously was unaware of a Portuguese mother's determination to save her Costco muffins. Fortunately, neither was injured this time.
This summer, after numerous local garage door break-ins, another neighbor had presumably the same bear (common characteristic ... HUGE!) break her back door right off the hinges and had a feast with the contents of her fridge and cupboards, doing a fair amount of damage along the way. After he came back the second night for a repeat performance, I screwed some 4x8 sheets of plywood to the door frame to try to keep him from coming back again. The third night my neighbor's fiancé spent the night with a loaded 44 magnum to confront any further intrusion.
My plywood barrier proved a formidable obstacle for this hungry giant ... so he went over to the sliding glass doors and lifted them off the track. As our armed groom-to-be tip toed down the stairs to confront the massive beast, the bear started toward him. He fired one shot right between the eyes. The powerful bullet was no match for the thick skull of this giant menace as it glanced off but sent him whirling about the kitchen trashing every thing in sight. Another shot hit the bear in the shoulder and sent him scrambling out the back door.
A post-midnight call to Carl Lackey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife brought the late hour calvary only to realize they had brought the wrong breed of tracking dogs and the bear escaped into the night, wounded and now even more dangerous. The setting of bear traps in the area resulted in the capture of some smaller offspring, but “Big Bubba” wouldn't take the bait.
After 3 to 4 weeks of relative calm, yet another neighbor had a “HUGE” black bear break through both of her garage doors on successive nights. He also ransacked a few other neighbor's garages in the same week, preferred method of entry ... smash a hole big enough to crawl through. The garage door companies in the area are having a banner year!
After Friday's first good snow of the year we hoped Big Bubba and his kin had had their fill and were snuggling into a nice long hibernation and we would deal with this next year. No such luck! Now the same neighbor who went back to back with this unruly beast at the French doors had him back again. This time he wasn't as polite. He simply tore the French door off the hinges and came in for some late night snacks. In addition to ransacking the kitchen, with his purported 700 pound mass, he managed to break their new granite counters. More plywood barriers managed to keep Big Bubba out of the house the next night but he did decide to tear down the fence since they had locked the gate! The same neighbor's significant other is now arming himself and threatening to set up a blind on the roof of the house and lay in wait for his return.
Where will this story of nature's own terrorist end? Unfortunately, when a bear this large and this destructive has learned such behaviors, there is really only one alternative. Let's just hope that his demise comes soon, before we are reporting the loss something much more serious than food and property.
— Frank Cates is an Incline Village resident.
