Bear Believed Killed for Body Parts

Wardens for the California Department of Fish and Game believe a black bear found shot near Lions Campground was killed by poachers who cut off the animal’s paws and cut out its gall bladder for sale on the black market.

Captain Roger Reese of the Department of Fish and Game said that poachers sell the claws for jewelry and the gall bladders for use as an aphrodisiac. He said that much of the contraband is smuggled to Asian countries and can fetch many thousands of dollars.

“There’s been a lot of publicity about how valuable these items are,” Reese said. “In this case, the bear could have been killed by one person and then another could have cut it up, but we suspect the person that poached the animal also removed the claws and gall bladder.”

Reese said this would be the first recorded poaching case in the county where a bear was killed just for its body parts. He said the bear was a 300-pound female, which was shot very close to the campground near Sespe Creek earlier in the week. The case is still under investigation, Reese said.