Investigation into dead bear in downtown Kamloops Alley

[East Van Ray]

What a waste!

http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/investigation-into-dead-bear-in-downtown-kamloops-alley/

Conservation officers are investigating a dead bear that appeared to be shot and wrapped in a shower curtain, then dumped in a West End alley.
Resident Stephanie Patsula said she was walking home mid-afternoon on Monday and saw something wrapped up in a curtain in the alley in the 100-block between Battle and Nicola streets.

“It was clearly a corpse and it was all wrapped up,” she said.

Patsula said she started to unwrap the curtain when two bear paws flopped out.

“It was a bear that looks to have been poached,” she said. “It was killed and left in the alleyway.”

Conservation officer Kevin Van Damme said the unusual find is under investigation.
“Hunters have authority to hunt black bears at this time of year,” he said.

“The question we have is, was this a lawful kill and somehow got put in this location?”

While hunting is legal, Van Damme said it is an offence to dump a bear without making use of it.

“We have questions how it got there and who put it there,” he said.

Those with tips can call the Ministry of Environment’s Report all Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277.

Patsula dismissed any thought the animal fell out of a truck and can’t understand why it ended up in the alley.

“Nothing was removed for trophy purposes,” she said.

[TrickleCharger]

Can't understand why someone would dump it in a place like that other than to see what kind of attention it would bring. Hopefully a resident in the area saw something that might help the investigation..

[butcher]

It obviously owed someone money and was made an example of.

[M.Dean]

It obviously owed someone money and was made an example of. I was going to say "A drug deal gone bad"? " But, and I quote" It was a bear that looked to have been poached"??? How,,, What's different if it was legally shot then dumped, or it was poached then dumped? How do you tell the deference Ma'am???

[FourOhs]

It would be "poached" if the hunter didn't have a tag, no? Would there be any other reason not to keep it and make use of it? Dumping it there without making use of it makes it also an illegal harvest, thus I'd consider it poached in that case. But hey, I'm still reading the manual, so please point out if I'm wrong...

[boxhitch]

Was it behind an ' insert ethnic name here ' restaurant ?
Maybe its being traded ?

[RugDoctor]

"Make use"......What does this mean? My use may be different than others "use". Seems flimsy to me....maybe I shot that bear to use exactly 4 strands of hair. I could easily be wrong here (it has never affected me because I do use what I shoot) but I only remember reading that you have to take you kill to your residence or to the butcher. I don't remember reading that I have to put anything to "use". Just pack edible portions etc to residence or butcher. Again....fair enough if I'm wrong here...doesn't really matter to me since like I said, I use what I kill anyway.

[hardnocks]

Have you ever called a CO to complain about a bear and have the same CO tell you to deal with it any way you can. You can shoot a problem bear without a tag....but you can not legally eat it, or feed it to your dog. you must bury it ...or maybe put it in a back ally. lol

[Jagermeister]

Have you ever called a CO to complain about a bear and have the same CO tell you to deal with it any way you can. You can shoot a problem bear without a tag....but you can not legally eat it, or feed it to your dog. you must bury it ...or maybe put it in a back ally. lol
That's about the size of it.
Now if I was investigating this, my first suspect would be the "finder". Since she deems it "poached" means that she has hunting knowledge. She lives in the area. I speculate that her bear went sour. Knowing that it is illegal to dump a bear and knowing that if spotted dumping the carcass off an FSR, she would undoubtedly be reported. Using her female intuition, she decided to dump the bear in the city and report it as "see what I found".

[FourOhs]

The restaurant comment and questioning of "make use" are interesting points. Maybe it wasn't a restaurant, but had been placed there near an adjacent butcher to be made into sausage, and the woman who found and reported it simply interrupted the passing over of the meat for processing. Maybe some hunter is right now reporting his legally-taken bear as stolen.

[fuzzybiscuit]

It obviously owed someone money and was made an example of.

Got caught with his hand in the honey jar. Happens all the time...

[albravo2]

This is the funniest thread I've read in a very long time.

Won't be long before someone berates everyone for taking poaching lightly but sometimes you just have to chuckle and see the humour in stupid behaviour.

[wideopenthrottle]

Got caught with his hand in the honey jar. Happens all the time...

now that was funny...heheheheh

[FirePower]

"While hunting is legal, Van Damme said it is an offence to dump a bear without making use of it."
I find this statement coming from a CO a little strange and slightly disturbing. As stated below the responsibility of a hunter is to remove edible portions to his residence etc. There is no mention of actually making "use" of it. I am not saying I agree with wasting meat(we enjoy bear meat) just that it is another miss interpretation of the regulations by the authorities that are supposed to be enforcing them.
to kill wildlife (with the exception of grizzly bear, cougar or a fur bearing animal other than a black bear) and fail to remove from
the carcass the edible portions of the four quarters and loins to the person’s normal dwelling place or to a meat cutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant.

[Drillbit]

"While hunting is legal, Van Damme said it is an offence to dump a bear without making use of it."
I find this statement coming from a CO a little strange and slightly disturbing. As stated below the responsibility of a hunter is to remove edible portions to his residence etc. There is no mention of actually making "use" of it. I am not saying I agree with wasting meat(we enjoy bear meat) just that it is another miss interpretation of the regulations by the authorities that are supposed to be enforcing them.
to kill wildlife (with the exception of grizzly bear, cougar or a fur bearing animal other than a black bear) and fail to remove from
the carcass the edible portions of the four quarters and loins to the person’s normal dwelling place or to a meat cutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant.





That's what I thought too.
Once it's home you can do what you want with it.

Pretty stupid to dump a bear in a downtown alley. There is no way it won't be found. Maybe it was supposed to be a prank? Was it wearing clothes?


Could've been shot, tagged and brought to the hunters dwelling and been legal. But to me dumping it in a alley is littering.

[TheProvider]

That's about the size of it.
Now if I was investigating this, my first suspect would be the "finder". Since she deems it "poached" means that she has hunting knowledge. She lives in the area. I speculate that her bear went sour. Knowing that it is illegal to dump a bear and knowing that if spotted dumping the carcass off an FSR, she would undoubtedly be reported. Using her female intuition, she decided to dump the bear in the city and report it as "see what I found".


The first thing that caught my eye was “It was clearly a corpse and it was all wrapped up,” she said."

How many people do you know especially a lady come across what they clearly see as a wrapped up corpse in an alley and decide to unwrap it?

[Sofa King]

It would be "poached" if the hunter didn't have a tag, no? Would there be any other reason not to keep it and make use of it? Dumping it there without making use of it makes it also an illegal harvest, thus I'd consider it poached in that case. But hey, I'm still reading the manual, so please point out if I'm wrong...
until they find the person who did this, they have zero idea if they had a legal licence and tag.
so until then, they have zero reason to even mention the word "poached".

[Sofa King]

messed with the wrong "picanic basket".

[tigrr]

It was a dump bear!! Wrapped and dumped....

[russm86]

The first thing that caught my eye was “It was clearly a corpse and it was all wrapped up,” she said."

How many people do you know especially a lady come across what they clearly see as a wrapped up corpse in an alley and decide to unwrap it?

That was the first thing that came to my mind as well. Who would open it if they thought there was a body in it? Most everyone has seen CSI or the news or something now a days and knows they shouldn't touch a crime scene leave it as is for the authorities to investigate without contaminated evidence...

[russm86]

"While hunting is legal, Van Damme said it is an offence to dump a bear without making use of it."
I find this statement coming from a CO a little strange and slightly disturbing. As stated below the responsibility of a hunter is to remove edible portions to his residence etc. There is no mention of actually making "use" of it. I am not saying I agree with wasting meat(we enjoy bear meat) just that it is another miss interpretation of the regulations by the authorities that are supposed to be enforcing them.
to kill wildlife (with the exception of grizzly bear, cougar or a fur bearing animal other than a black bear) and fail to remove from
the carcass the edible portions of the four quarters and loins to the person’s normal dwelling place or to a meat cutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant.





Does anyone know for sure this was COs exact word for word response and not the medias interpretation or summarization of what he actually said? I wouldn't put it past media to mess with his wording so they could definitely mix up what he actually said and completely obscure what his intended meaning was.

[Foxton Gundogs]

That was the first thing that came to my mind as well. Who would open it if they thought there was a body in it? Most everyone has seen CSI or the news or something now a days and knows they shouldn't touch a crime scene leave it as is for the authorities to investigate without contaminated evidence...
More to this story than meets the eye I suspect.

[jedimaster]

I wonder if it was gutted? If it was shot and wrapped and dumped without being gutted I would think it's a local problem bear. Gutted to me would stand to reason it was shot while hunting and someone changed there mind. Maybe got it home and the wife said get that thing out a here. Who knows.

[M.Dean]

Anyone happen to know if there's a Chinese restaurant near by? Rumor has it, and this was 20 years ago I might add, if a guy dropped off a deer head, horns attached, you could get a "all you can eat" supper free, no guff! Wasn't me, think I'd eat some where's I just gave them a smelly old deer head? It does happen more than you think too!

[Daybreak]

Asian restaurant in Calgary was busted with a freezer full of coyotes many years ago.

[hardnocks]

my dad kept an Asian restaurant in vernon in bear meat for probably ten years . A greasy spoon in port alberni would give a meal for 2 in exchange for bear paws.

[FirePower]

my dad kept an Asian restaurant in vernon in bear meat for probably ten years . A greasy spoon in port alberni would give a meal for 2 in exchange for bear paws.

Trafficking in bear parts was a crime last I heard.

[hardnocks]

Trafficking in bear parts was a crime last I heard.
wasn`t then ! bear where vermon . no tags no bag limit . but it wouldn`t have mattered to my dad anyway . most of you on this forum would be shocked if I told how many animals my dad and uncles shot a year.

[BCBear]

There were bag limits in bc at least 70 yrs ago. 3 black bears max per year in the mid 1940s. The regs were quite detailed even then.

[hardnocks]

well you could be right I have a 53-54 regs somewhere just can`t find them. but I don`t remember the game warden looking for bear. but he was always looking for deer.
now don`t get me wrong I am not proud of my dad he was lazy shiftless and a extreme poacher. and treated my mom like crap.

[REMINGTON JIM]

It was a dump bear!! Wrapped and dumped....

YUP as all Bears should be - just frigging Predators like wolves anyhow -just killing baby deers-mooses etc ! :neutral: RJ

[Drillbit]

^I think anyone that applies for a Moose LEH should hunt bear in the zone they apply.

Win, win. Possibly save a calf or 2 and do some scouting for the moose hunt.

[M.Dean]

wasn`t then ! bear where vermon . no tags no bag limit . but it wouldn`t have mattered to my dad anyway . most of you on this forum would be shocked if I told how many animals my dad and uncles shot a year. There's still quite a few cattle ranchers that shoot bears on sight, if most people could see what they do to new born calves, they'd shoot them on site too! Coyotes are on the hit list also. Up here when the cow's are calving, most guys around the ranch have a rifle near by, and a side note, at calving time you have to see the bald eagles hanging around for the left overs too! Highest number counted at one time was 49 eagles on the ground and in the tree's, only heard of eagles attacking the new born calves once, that was quite a few years ago, rumor has it the calf lived, eagle passed away.

[Drillbit]

There's still quite a few cattle ranchers that shoot bears on sight, if most people could see what they do to new born calves, they'd shoot them on site too! Coyotes are on the hit list also. Up here when the cow's are calving, most guys around the ranch have a rifle near by, and a side note, at calving time you have to see the bald eagles hanging around for the left overs too!

Yep, spring, is by far, the busiest hunting time of the year on a ranch. Bears, coyotes, wolves, gophers, ravens, crows, magpies.....