280-pound bear caught at Lampe Park

A 280-pound female black bear was captured at Lampe Park Monday night.

People attending a ball game at the park in Gardnerville spied a bear roaming by Willow Creek and reported it to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies kept the bear near the creek and at approximately 10 p.m. Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist Carl Lackey arrived to capture the bear.

"That's the only reason it was noticed. There were people at the park," said Lackey, Tuesday morning. "DCSO treed it right along the creek until I could get there."

Lackey said he didn't think the bear's appearance so close to residences in Gardnerville was related to the Angora fire in South Lake Tahoe.

"It wasn't really unusual because she was not too far from the river," he said, adding that he has followed the bear's whereabouts for quite some time.

"She's been all the way from Minden and south Reno in the last couple of years," he said. "It just all depends on food and on the bear."

Lackey tranquilized the bear late Tuesday morning, weighing her and placing a global positioning system satellite collar around her neck.

"The GPS collar and research involves cooperation between the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Nevada Department of Wildlife," said Lackey.

He planned to let her go on Wednesday at the top of Spooner Summit.

"We'll take her up there and let her loose," he said.