Oregon Man Sentenced (Again) For Killing Bears, Selling Gallbladders

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For the second time, a convicted poacher from Linn County, Oregon, is going to prison for killing bears and selling their gallbladders.

Convicted poacher Raymond Edward Hillsman will be serving his second jail sentence for leading a team that hunted bears in five western Oregon counties in order to harvest and sell the bears’ gallbladders.

OregonLive.com reports that in 1999, Hillsman was sentenced to 18 months in jail and a lifetime hunting ban – which he has obviously violated.

This time around, he faces 10 months in jail, along with 36 months of supervised probation and a lifetime ban on hunting, possessing game meat, training hunting dogs or residing with anyone who trains hunting dogs.

Protecting American bears from Asian markets

It’s happening already.

Now that commercial trade is prohibited for Asian bears, poachers are turning to the North American black bear for the harvesting of their gallbladders.

You can take action to protect the North American black bear by getting the word out about the Bear Protection Act of 2009 H.R. 3480

To conserve global bear populations by prohibiting the importation, exportation, and interstate trade of bear viscera and items, products, or substances containing, or labeled or advertised as containing, bear viscera, and for other purposes.

You can write to your representatives and monitor the progress of the Bear Protection Act of 2009 H.R. 3480 on OpenCongress.org and GovTrack.us

This legislation is meant to counteract the inconsistent laws that currently make illegal trade in bear parts relatively easy by creating loopholes for would-be entrepreneurs (such as Hillsman) hoping to cash in on the lucrative Chinese market for bear gallbladders and other parts.

Take note: The demand for elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn has lured organized poaching gangs to Africa, and the demand for tiger parts has pushed India’s tigers to the edge of extinction. The demand for bear parts will most certainly attract these commercial poachers to North America.

We must take action now to protect North American bears from the Chinese trade in bear parts – or risk losing these animals forever.

Image: Wikimedia Commons