The killing of two mother bears during Nevada’s 2023 bear hunt is fueling calls from animal advocates for an end to the state’s for-sport hunt, or a decrease in the annual quota that allows 50 bears to be killed each year. They’re also asking the state’s Wildlife Commission, which meets Friday, to prohibit hounding, the ..read more

Activists ask state to call off ‘for sport’ event  Nevada’s black bears, driven by drought, fire, and smoke from their habitats in the high country around Lake Tahoe, are about to face another existential threat — hunters.   The state’s season for hunting bears begins Sept. 15, but environmental organizations and  animal activists are asking the ..read more

This opinion column was submitted by RGJ columnist Sheila Leslie, who served in the Nevada Legislature from 1998 to 2012. If ever there were a time to re-evaluate the decision to allow trophy bear hunting in Nevada, it’s this year. Our unprecedented wildfire season has decimated prime bear habitat, leaving dehydrated and thirsty bears homeless, no ..read more

Nevada’s Department of Wildlife needs more oversight, says state Sen. Pete Goicoechea, who is sponsoring legislation to add two members to the Wildlife Commission.  But environmentalists and animal activists say the measure would tilt the board even more in favor of hunting, trapping and fishing interests.   The Wildlife Commission is the “the least democratic of all state boards ..read more

Department of Wildlife kills more bears than hunters do, says critic Nevada’s black bears are under attack by state regulators, according to some Lake Tahoe residents who allege they are also being targeted for trying to prevent what they contend is the needless slaughter of the animals. “There’s a long history of the Nevada Department ..read more

In 2018, the nation’s fish and wildlife agencies in conjunction with their own polling agency and a couple of universities conducted a national survey of public attitudes regarding a variety of wildlife management issues and values. Nearly 44,000 citizens were queried as to their preferences.  The respondents were grouped into four categories: Traditionalist, Mutualist, Pluralist and Indifferent ..read more

Two proposals before regulators this week could align Nevada’s wildlife management policies more closely with the desires of the state’s residents, many of whom have little tolerance for hunting and trapping. On Friday, the Commission will consider a ban on bear hounding, a practice critics say is abusive not only to bears but to the ..read more

In a shocking display of disregard for public values, the Nevada Wildlife Commission voted on Jan. 27 to expand the 2018 bear hunt, adding two more hunt units and expanding the time hunters can kill bears to before sunrise and after sunset. Commissioner and hunter Brad Johnston railroaded the expansion through by amending the areas ..read more

I’m a mom with two kids and we live in the Tahoe Basin, but don’t ask me where dad is today, maybe over at Taylor Creek checking out the kokanee salmon. We lead a simple life, there being about 450 of us trying to eke out a living here, though it’s getting more and more ..read more