Incline Village, NV…A large crowd turned out for the memorial service for “Charlie” the Incline Village Bear that was put down after he was wondering the Raleys parking lot during the day.

The Memorial was part of a larger effort spearheaded by No Bear Hunt Nevada to derail the upcoming bear hunt that has been authorized. A judge ruled last week that the hunt can move forward. There has been movement in the groups direction by a vote by the Washoe County Wildlife Board which voted 4-1 to not back the Bear Hunt. A release on that vote is below the photos..

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WASHOE WILDLIFE BOARD VOTES AGAINST BEAR
HUNT 4:1.
In a surprise vote late Wednesday night, the Washoe
County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife voted not to
endorse the new bear hunt being considered by the
Nevada Wildlife Commission.
The 5 member board will send their opinion to the August
13th Commission meeting in Fallon, Nevada.
“This bear hunt has been rammed down the throats of the
public by the Commission,” said Vice Chair Rick Smith.
“I’m not against the hunt because I believe we can have
one. I’m voting against it because of how it was presented
to the public. You didn’t see it coming and neither did we.”
“I’m not sure where the hell I stand. The numbers against
the hunt are pretty high. I don’t see how we ignore that,”
said board member John Reed.
Twelve members of the public spoke against the hunt
while three were for it. Chairman Flowers showed a 2″
thick folder of emails the board had received. “There are
hundreds here, almost all against the hunt.”
During comments the board was shown nearly 5000
signatures gathered on paper by the grassroots
organization NoBearHuntNV.org. Organizer Billy Howard
told the board that people signing the petitions even at that
moment. “We don’t just ask for people’s signatures, we
ask them to take a sheet and get some, too. They are
pouring into our mailbox. Together with our online
signatures we have over 13000 people signing on against
the hunt.”
“This is a painful topic. I think the people against the hunt
should have at least one more chance to air their feelings
and I’m not sure they will have another recourse if the hunt
is made permanent. I don’t see how we can ignore the
13,000 or so signatures,” mused Reed.
The Wildlife Commission voted for the bear hunt
regulation in December, but Nevada law states the ruling
could only be considered temporary because the
Legislature was in session at the time. Once the
Legislature disbands agencies then make their temporary
regulations permanent. The Nevada Legislature convenes
once every two years.
Chairman Rex Flowers supplied the sole yes vote. “I feel
the regulation is well thought out. If the hunt does not go
well it will come to an end.”
But Smith countered, “If we don’t approve making the hunt
permanent we’re sending the message to the Commission
that we can come up with compromises on this issue and
work it out.”