BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. — Black bear sightings aren’t rare in western North Carolina.
What is rare is a growing trend of bears being spotted with only three paws, believed to be due to an increase in bear traps.
Two North Carolina rescue groups are joining forces to find out who is doing this to the bears and how they can stop them, after they discovered a major poaching ring in the N.C. mountains.
The discovery was prompted by a bear named Peaches.
“Peaches came in and she was missing most of her right leg," says Alex Williams, with Help Asheville Bears. "Almost a surgical cut it looked like and there were no other injuries to her.”
He says she was also very skinny from what they believed was her continuing to nurse her cubs but struggling to find food for herself.
He asked the public if anyone knew what could've happened to her or who was responsible.
“We found that there was a historic amount of bears missing paws within this area and that there was a large poaching ring going on for bear paws and the gallbladders, and that this was a significant problem anywhere that there’s black bears at," Williams says.
Black bears are very common in North Carolina.
According to the Animal Legal and Historical Center, bear paws are considered an Asian delicacy. Bear bile, which is stored in the gallbladder, is a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine and has been for 3,000 years.
Peaches prompted the discovery of the poaching ring because of how much Alex Williams and his brother loved her.
They would feed her and her three cubs until she stopped coming around. Soon, they discovered she had lost her leg in a trap.
That’s when the Williams brothers formed "Help Asheville Bears," a group dedicated to protecting bears like Peaches.
When they set a reward for more information on Peaches, they found out a lot more than they had bargained for.
"An informant came forward with all the information of a three-decade poaching and trapping a bear operation for the paws in Buncombe and Henderson counties," Williams says.
Tips and pictures started rolling in of more than a dozen bears missing their paws and they wanted to stop it, so another group was formed, the "Poacher Strike Force," based in Raleigh.
"Until Peaches came in that day, we never understood the amount of suffering black bears face," Williams says.
The strike force is hoping to put an end to this.
“Everybody on the task force is either prior law enforcement, prior military and or 20, 30, 40 years of a woodsmenship," says Tony Wisniewski, with Poacher Strike Force.
They know the level of proof needed before charges can be filed, so they investigate and do the legwork before handing the case off to law enforcement.
“The bear traps are illegal to use," Wisniewski says.
But they’re legal to buy and that’s why these groups have also started a petition to stop the sale of the traps, specifically on Amazon.
"These traps will last for decades to come, and to still sell attractants for the snares to be used is an insult to all animal lovers because these traps indiscriminately kill whatever steps in whether it be a dog, cat, bear or fox," Williams says.
The groups offer rewards up to $10,000 to find the people illegally poaching and trapping these bears.
"It’s hard to picture, it's hard to see all the images, but if something in your life gives you so much joy, if you love it so much," Williams says. "Peaches changed our life, she was such a special bear and there’s just no way to ever stop fighting for her and all the bears and giving them a voice.”
Help Asheville Bears is also working with the state to bring a sanctuary to Asheville to help rehabilitate and treat injured bears and release them back to their natural habitats.
You can also help the Poacher Strike Force continue their necessary work by donating to their GoFundMe page.
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