Bear Poaching

[Weedy1]

Anyone here have any experience in regards to what and how parts are taken from a bear when it is poached? I ran across a dead bear about 50ft from the edge of a forestry road today. Something seemed strange to me so I stopped, had a look and took some pics. (I'll post them tommorow) The bear had no obvious signs of gunshots but I found it strange that it was so far from the edge of the road coupled with the fact there was an area adjacent to where it laid that had hair scattered around as though the bear had been dragged around. The butt end of the bear had a large area that was opened up whether it was by man or animals I don't know. I am curious to know if the gall bladder may have been cut out of it and if the rear is where it would be taken from.

[toolman]

It may have gotten hit by a vehicle and ended up a short distance off the road before succumbing to its injuries.

[lonefisher]

call fish and wildlife..... sounds suspicious to me. If nothing else it will atleast be recorded by them that way..... Those guys are actually pretty clever if its a poached bear they will likely be able to determine that but the sooner they see it the better

[Jeffro]

Most likely it was a vehicle collision by the sounds of it. Most likely the hair is a result of someone moving the carcass out of the way for future traffic. The gall bladder isn't located near the rump, it's closer to the boiler room, so unless it was an enema gone bad......

 

If the rear end was ripped open, it may have been due to injury or scavengers. A person would be crazy to leave the evidence of of a poached bear in broad daylight, especially out in the open like that. Not only that, it's only 14$ for a black-bear tag so it really wouldn't be worth the hassle (unless you needed lots of gall bladders). There are other parts of the bear (like testicles if they are present and the paws, teeth, etc.) that are usually taken along with the gall bladder as they can fetch a fair price in the black market.

[bigbowtrout]

Lowest of the low if that is the case and it really chaps my ass and if caught they should have there balls removed

[Jeffro]

Lowest of the low if that is the case and it really chaps my ass and if caught they should have there balls removed

 

Or ovaries for that matter

[ladystrange]

i second jeffro, the gall bladder is located above and behind the liver, sort of next to the spleen, the paws are in high demand as well. i could also see the heart being in demand.

 

the rear could have been from cavengers... ever heard how the vulture became bald - old native story from many different bands, but basically most scavengers will start at the anus and work their way in unless there is another opening without a lot of hair. i mean really, who likes to eat hair anyway...

[toolman]

I think the injuries to the bears rear end is likely from the collision with a high speed vehicle and the bear managed to crawl a short distance to hide before dying.

[bigbowtrout]

i second jeffro, the gall bladder is located above and behind the liver, sort of next to the spleen, the paws are in high demand as well. i could also see the heart being in demand.

 

the rear could have been from cavengers... ever heard how the vulture became bald - old native story from many different bands, but basically most scavengers will start at the anus and work their way in unless there is another opening without a lot of hair. i mean really, who likes to eat hair anyway...

 

Hey RickR is this why you have bad breath and no J/K

[reevesr1]

Hey RickR is this why you have bad breath and no J/K

Don't know about the bad breath, but makes sense for the hair. Also explains how I got to my lofty position in my company!

[Hawgstoppah]

ever heard how the vulture became bald - old native story from many different bands, but basically most scavengers will start at the anus and work their way in unless there is another opening without a lot of hair. i mean really, who likes to eat hair anyway...

 

so maybe this wasn't the best topic to read while eating lunch!

[Weedy1]

Here are the pics:

 

This area had no signs of a vehicle being driven in there. The brown/black tracks you see is hair from the bear and gouges as though the bear had been dragged. The road is what you see on the very far right of the picture near the trees. For a vehicle to throw a bear this distance it would have had to been doing quite the clip, hit it and then thrown it off at an angle. Like I said before something just doesn't seem right with the whole picture. I've seen many many dead animals in different settings but there is something about this one that is strange.

 

 

 

[lonefisher]

I still think it looks suspicious......

[Guest bigbadbrent]

call the fuzz

[Weedy1]

call the fuzz

 

Already happened, waiting for a reply.

[Jeffro]

If you look at the patterning of the wound in the hind quarters, it is very messy and stringy which pretty much rules out a knife. Unless someone just came from the salon and had there finger nails done, and scratched and clawed at the bears ass for a few hours I would have to say something has been feeding on it. The flattened grass does look strange, but if something were to have been feeding on the carcass, it would have also trampled the grass under foot (or talon if the case be). Personally I would say it wasn't a poaching incident, but without a full necropsy and crime scene investigation, I suppose poaching can't be ruled out.

 

The bear probably either crawled to the area you found him, and wolves or coyotes playing tug of war probably dragged the carcass around, or quite possible another bear.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

no matter what happened, wether it was traffic or poachers..the right thing to do was call the F&W, and you did.......story over

[Weedy1]

The bear probably either crawled to the area you found him, and wolves or coyotes playing tug of war probably dragged the carcass around, or quite possible another bear.

 

I considered what you're saying Jeffro and it makes the most sense. I suspect this may have happened within a few hours of my travel by the area and whatever caused the trampling of the grass was gone, most likely scarred off by the morning traffic.

I would think though that a few wolves or coyotes would tear apart a small bear in no time, maybe not? I did check the road for any indication of a hit and found nothing. There were a few ravens feeding on it when I approached.

 

 

Hopefully F&W gets back to me.

 

Here's a real sickening article to read if your bored:

 

http://www.american.edu/TED/bear.htm

[ladystrange]

Here's a real sickening article to read if your bored:

 

http://www.american.edu/TED/bear.htm

 

 

it is an interesting article. i dont agree with the conditions the animals are kept in. i do think that the provinces should take a more realistic stand with harsher penalties for poachers.

 

i cant say that i can tell some one their beliefs are wrong or stupid. in most asian cultures, any animal that has it's back to the sky is fair game, so basically no people and no primates (yes i know the primate thing doesnt always count, ie: monkey brains) but there is probably a more humane way of harvesting meat for food and other parts for whatever. but then again, if it's just food... thinking beef

[Weedy1]

Well F&W phoned me this morning. It turns out they had a call about the bear the day before I came across it. F&W said someone shot it most likely because the bear had been in the area feeding in the ditches for the week or so prior to being shot. There was no witness's nor any type of evidence they could go on therefore the bear was left where it was found so that animals could feed on it. The lady I talked to said the bear was in it's natural habitat when shot and was not posing any type of safety issue to anyone. Sad isn't it........

[toolman]

That is sad indeed. Thanks for the follow up.

[cdock]

Well F&W phoned me this morning. It turns out they had a call about the bear the day before I came across it. F&W said someone shot it most likely because the bear had been in the area feeding in the ditches for the week or so prior to being shot. There was no witness's nor any type of evidence they could go on therefore the bear was left where it was found so that animals could feed on it. The lady I talked to said the bear was in it's natural habitat when shot and was not posing any type of safety issue to anyone. Sad isn't it........

 

Oh man that sucks to hear that.

[Jeffro]

Well thats a shame that somebody would waste an animal like that. If your going to shoot it at least make full use of it instead of turning it into a rotting lawn ornament. Could have been careless hunters that couldn't track an elephant through the mud or just ignorant pricks with as much brains as a peanut.

[ladystrange]

i really hate to hear things like this. stupid, stupid people who dont know the direction of their mussle or the distance a bullet can travel -if this was an 'accident', if it was on purpose, i'd like to string the *%%*$#@er up by their toes and let mother nature take it's course.

 

thanks for the update.