Dead bear's gallbladder removed in possible Tahoe poaching case
LA Times Wrote:
State wildlife officials are investigating a possible poaching case in which someone removed the gallbladder of a black bear -- which can sell for thousands of dollars in Asia -- after the animal was struck and killed this week by a car in the Lake Tahoe area.
The animal was found with its groin area shaved and gallbladder missing early Tuesday, less than 10 hours after a motorist reported striking the bear and California Highway Patrol officers moved it off the roadway. A surgical glove was discovered next to the bear's mutilated carcass.
"It appears that someone knew what they were doing," said Capt. Mark Lucero of the Department of Fish and Game's Northern Enforcement District.
It is illegal to take parts of dead wildlife left on the side of the road, Lucero said.
"A second violation would be if the gall was marketed on the black market," he added.
The penalty for trafficking in bear parts, a felony, is a $10,000 fine and a minimum six months to one year imprisonment. In addition, unlawfully taking parts from a bear is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of several thousand dollars and possible jail time, officials said.
The discovery of the missing organ was at least the third instance since May involving bear parts in the state.
* On July 28, for example, Fish and Game officials found a bear paw with some claws removed in an illegal marijuana grove in a Tulare County.
* In May, a bag of severed black bear paws mysteriously turned up on the doorstep of a home in Riverside. Officials were not sure if they were intended to be sold, eaten or kept as trophies. An investigation determined the bears had been hunted legally and there was no proof that anyone had tried to sell the parts.
The state allows hunting of a certain quota of black bear in the fall, but requires hunters to have licenses and register their kills with the state. In any case, California prohibits anyone from buying or selling bear parts, even if they are imported from other places.
Peddling bear parts is illegal in 34 states, including California, but they are highly prized in Asian markets. The gallbladder is "by far" the most often stolen part of a bear because it is very popular in traditional Chinese medicine as an aphrodisiac or cure for a variety of ills, said Lt. Kathy Ponting, who leads the Fish and Game unit that investigates illegal commercialization of wildlife.
"That's where the money is," Ponting said. Last December, she said, her team tracked down a San Diego man who was offering to buy bear gallbladders for $150 to $500 from hunters. He was planning to sell them for up to $4,000 in Vietnam, Ponting said.
Instances in which bears have had organs removed are rare, but persistent, Ponting said. She estimated that the department hears about fewer than 10 cases a year and investigates about three.
A motorist called the CHP shortly after 10 p.m. Monday to report that he and at least two other drivers had hit a bear on state highway 89 between Squaw Valley and Truckee.
CHP officers that night moved the bear's carcass, reported to weigh 200 pounds, to the side of the road and requested that Caltrans workers remove it. On Tuesday morning, a passing motorist called the BEAR League, a nonprofit organization based in Homewood. Ann Bryant, founder and executive director of the group whose acronym stands for Bear Education Aversion Response, sent two volunteers out to the scene about 7:30 a.m.
Bryant, who said her group is dedicated to peaceful coexistence between humans and bears, called the scene "really gruesome."
"We were the first ones on foot close enough to see what was going on," said Bryant. "He was lying flat on his back, as if he was on an operating table."
Photos taken by the volunteers showed that the bear's gallbladder and possibly its genitals had been removed. The volunteers also found a surgical glove next to the dead bear.
Bryant said that since the beginning of 2007, her group has gotten 87 calls about dead bears found near roads. On occasion, she said, vandals have cut off the heads or paws from bears. This week, however, was the first time they encountered a gallbladder missing from a bear killed in a vehicle collision, she said.
Bryant notified state wildlife officials, who located the bear carcass just as Caltrans workers were putting it into a landfill in the northern part of Lake Tahoe.
The Fish and Game investigator confirmed that the gallbladder had been removed and that someone had shaved the area around the incision, Lucero said. The gender of the bear was not immediately apparent, he said.
Fish and Game officials recovered the surgical glove at the side of the road, Lucero said. It was sent to the state's Dept. of Justice to see if they could recover fingerprints or other evidence.
"Right now, it's a needle in a haystack because we don't have any witnesses or vehicle description," Lucero said.
Ponting, whose unit investigates the illegal sales of animal parts, said she is concerned that the commercialization of bear parts could put pressure on California's population of black bears. About 35,000 black bears currently roam the state.
In addition to the demand for gallbladders, paws are sometimes cooked in soups as a delicacy and claws are sometimes used for jewelry, Ponting explained.
"Our black bear population is very viable, very healthy," Ponting said.
Prohibiting commercialization of bear parts remained a key to that continued health, she said.
"If we turn our backs," she said, "it doesn't take long for the population to be threatened."
Anyone really buying that this garbladder is headed to asia and not a doctor in Alabama for implantation. The timing can't be a coincidence.
