300 pound black bear found in Chichester

A 300-pound male black bear was found Friday afternoon in the tree of a Chichester Estates home.

"I looked in the backyard and there was something wrong with one of the tree branches," said Linda Kyriakopoulos, who has been living at East Aylesbury Court in Chichester for two years. "I looked up and there was a big old rear end with a face on it looking at me."

Kyriakopoulos called 911 and Douglas County Deputies arrived on the scene. According to Kyriakopoulos, police officers patrolled the street around the house making sure students just released from Gardnerville Elementary School didn't come too close.

Student Kevin Eubanks said his principal made an announcement about the bear during school. After class ended, Eubanks was walking home when he looked up and saw the bear falling from a tree.

Nevada Department of Wildlife biologists Carl Lackey and Thad Heater had tranquilized the bear. Once it was out of the tree, they transported it to the front yard.

"This is the closest I've ever gotten to a bear," said Eubanks said, who walked around to the front of the house after seeing the bear shot.

Sprawled out on the front lawn, Lackey and Heater examined the bear and found two holes in its left shoulder where apparently it had been shot twice.

Heater, Lackey and helpful neighbors then loaded the bear into a trailer cage attached to the biologists' pickup truck.

Heater said there had been reports since morning of a bear roaming Chichester. He said the bear had been jumping from yard to yard, eating apples and other vegetation.

Lackey, who's been dealing with adventurous bears all summer, said he hadn't seen this specific bear yet.

The bear was transported to a holding station near Kingsbury Grade. Upon further examination, Lackey found no bone damage from the bullet wounds.

The bear was healthy enough to be released into the Carson Range Monday morning, according to Lackey.

Anyone with information relating to the shooting of the bear can call Operation Game Thief at 1-800-990-3030. All calls will remain anonymous.