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Bear poacher jailed: Burnaby man also loses rifle

Susan Lazaruk
The Province

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

A Burnaby poacher has been jailed for killing a lactating black bear for her gallbladder, for which practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine pay thousands of dollars.

Jae Beum Hue, 40, was sentenced to 14 days for poaching near Bamfield on Vancouver Island in the fall of 2000.

He was also fined a total of $14,500 on five counts -- killing the bear out of season, possessing a bear gall bladder, possessing five black bear paws, not taking the edible portions of a shot bear, and not cancelling his licence tag after killing a bear.

His high-powered 300 Winchester Magnum hunting rifle, worth $5,000, was confiscated and he was banned from hunting for 10 years.

The sow was with her two cubs that were only a few months old -- which means she was off limits -- and they are believed to have starved to death, said conservation officer Mike Stern of Port Alberni. Jail for poaching is rare, especially for a first-time offender, said prosecutor John Blackman.

"The circumstances of this case are pretty appalling," he said, adding the judge wanted to make an example of Hue because conservation officers can't possibly stop all the poaching in B.C.

Hue shot the sow on Oct. 7, 2000, removed the gallbladder, and left the carcass to rot.

Another hunter, who the day before had recorded the licence-plate number of Hue's vehicle because he found his activities suspicious, found the dead sow the next day.

"We wouldn't have had a case if it weren't for that hunter," said Blackman.

Conservation officers got a search warrant and found five black bear paws in Hue's apartment.

The bladder was never found but the judge accepted Crown's case that Hue removed it from the bear.