Spotting bears in Reno neighborhoods has become common place lately. After catching and tranquilizing a bear in Northwest Reno on Wednesday, NDOW has released the 5 year old bear. 

"Usually this time of the year, bears are at those higher elevations eating their natural food sources, but since we are dry this year, we didn't have a lot of snow pack, their are coming to neighborhoods to find food," says Ashley Sanchez, Public Information Officer at NDOW.

She says the big thing to keep bears away is to properly store trash and collect the fruit around your fruit trees. If you don't care about the tree, NDOW even recommends cutting it off. The bear found in Northwest Reno has no history of break-ins and has a radio collar that will facilitate aversive conditioning studies.Â