Japanese man accused of illegal bear hunting

[Aqua2213]

Japanese man accused of illegal bear hunting

by Associated Press

Posted on January 13, 2010 at 10:54 PM
******

SEATTLE - King County prosecutors have charged a 71-year-old Japanese psychiatrist with illegal possession of guns and illegal hunting.

[Quick psychiatrist joke....Had a one hour session with the psychiatrist and after the session he handed me the bill which was 300 dollars. I looked up at him and said, "Are you crazy?!!"]

They alleged Wednesday that Tohru Shigemura pretended to be a citizen of the United States to buy guns, which he used to kill six black bears in and around the Quinault Indian Reservation.

Detectives with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife had been keeping tabs on Shigemura since 2007, after hearing a tip that he was trafficking in bear parts. Bear gall bladders are popular in traditional Asian medicine.

During a June search of his Seattle home, wildlife detectives found 11 firearms and several dried gall bladders. On a previous trip, The Seattle Times says Shigemura had been found by federal agents to be carrying another 18 gallbladders. He has denied trafficking in bear parts.

Shigemura is not in custody.

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This is from my neck of the woods! :secret:

Hey, I collect coins, he collects bear gall bladders. What's the big deal?

If he IS guilty as charged, the "gall" of this man to shoot all our bears.:wait:

He better not fuck with Pedobear!!issed:

 

[elgringo14]

This is a non-event.

 

[Aqua2213]

This is a non-event.

It may be a "non event" to you (one person) but to the Associated Press, the Seattletimes newspaper, the FBI and other local law enforcement agencies, they beg to differ.

Maybe it would be an "Event" to you if the guy was tossing bears onto the subway tracks just as trains were pulling in.
:nosepick:

 

[Sakunyuusha]

Tiger penises. Rhinoceros horns. Elephant tusks. Bear gallbladders. There are many endangered species whose organs are valued for medicinal purposes. (As in the case of tiger penises, without certainty that the tissue even works as intended.) Perhaps the organs in question really do work as intended, but circumventing the law like this isn't the way to go about it. Not because bad laws shouldn't be broken, but because bad laws shouldn't be broken recklessly or needlessly. If there is a better way to solve the problem, it should be pursued.

In this man's case, his money would have been better spent trying to get Japanese medical researchers to identify the unique compound(s) found inside of ursine bile, compounds not found in the gallbladders of regularly-consumed animals (e.g. pigs, poultry, cows). Once the chemical was identified, it could have been purified and sent off to two different labs working towards the same goal. Lab #1 = a traditional pharmaceutical plant which tries to artificially reproduce this compound in the lab and then mass-produce it in the factory. Lab #2 = the newer-age pharmaceutical plant which tries to locate the gene(s) in the bear's genome responsible for producing this chemical, and then splicing those genes from the bear chromosome to a bacterial plasmid. Hybridize the plasmid into a sturdy, prolific strain of bacteria and voila: your bacteria start making synthetic bear-juice in the lab for you.

Oh well. I don't think this man's case is all good or all bad. I think he's bad for killing the bears and disrespecting his country's laws (against gun use and hunting bears) as well as the country on whose soil he killed the bears (ours!), but I applaud him for putting his concern for his patients before his concern for "the rules." Personally, I respect the doctor who says, "Fuck the rules: my patient is going to die without this" to a certain extent. The question we each have to ask ourselves, though, is when is fucking the rules noble and when is it not?

Now that stated ... if he wasn't killing the bears for his own patients, and he really was doing it to make $$$ off of bear parts trafficking, then that just ain't cool period. >(

 

[Aqua2213]

They already have mass produced Bear gall bladder bile farms in Asia but bears are still hunted for their gall bladders as the wild ones are best. (see attachment PDF below It's a 1995 article, but it explains a lot and I'm sure the prices stated in it have inflated substantially up to this time )

Also, here's a very recent article about to fellas who got caught here in Washington and prosecuted....

http://www.komw.net/artman/publish/article_5260.shtml

"Bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do?"

I applaud him for putting his concern for his patients before his concern for "the rules." Personally, I respect the doctor who says, "Fuck the rules: my patient is going to die without this" to a certain extent.

So my kidney doctor has patients who need kidneys to survive as the years of dialysis are putting them in the grave fast.

So she sets off and finds a compatable "donor" and then kills and harvests the kidneys for her patients. You'd give her a standing ovation for that?

Don't tell me, "it's just a beaaaaar." It's a living creature and we only have limited bears around here.
This Doc did it for the money. As the PDF article says there's plenty of bear bile farmed in Asia.

Greedy basterd.:death:ayup:

 

[Sakunyuusha]

To me, it is not just a bear. But to him, it is just a bear. And we have to gauge the morality of his actions in the context of not only society's beliefs but his as well. There's a difference in criminal trials between the guy who says "I know I killed him, but I was doing the right thing, and I still believe that even now" vs. the guy who says, "I killed him just for the fun of it. Yeah, he didn't deserve it, but fuck him." So much so is there a difference that we genuinely award different sentences to these two very different kinds of murderers. Society says of both of them, "What you did is wrong," but it also says, "Well, at least the one guy *thought* he was doing the right thing."

I don't see cats as "just cats." I don't see dogs as "just dogs." So I get upset at the thought of animal cruelty or -- worse -- shooting, running over, or even killing for eating when it comes to these animals. That stated, if I was to read in the newspaper about a man who deliberately ran over a dog but did so because he felt it was the right thing to do, I'd be less upset with him (though still "WTF!? ;_; NEEEEEUUUUUU! ;_;") than I would be if I read that he ran over the dog knowing it was a mean-spirited thing to do and claiming, "Yeah, I didn't get anything out of it. It wasn't even as fun as I'd hoped it would be. But whatever. It's just a fucking dog."

Motives matter.

 

[jisatsu]

Sadly... I'm from King County.

 

[Gir633]

He better not fuck with Pedobear!!issed:
[/FONT][/SIZE]

Nah the pedobear guy was on my side of the country.

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/...jail_release_instructor_remains_on_paid_leave

 

[CoolKevin]

I am on the side of the Bear, just killing for Gall bladders is wrong, ok if he was starving and killed for food then it is acceptable, plus at the moment it is only suspected, we will have to watch this space

 

[Aqua2213]

That stated, if I was to read in the newspaper about a man who deliberately ran over a dog but did so because he felt it was the right thing to do, I'd be less upset with him (though still "WTF!? ;_; NEEEEEUUUUUU! ;_;") than I would be if I read that he ran over the dog knowing it was a mean-spirited thing to do and claiming, "Yeah, I didn't get anything out of it. It wasn't even as fun as I'd hoped it would be. But whatever. It's just a fucking dog."

A five year old boy kills a dog deliberately because he thought it was the right thing to do is understandable because he's...ahem......5.
An adult kills a dog deliberately because he thought it was the right thing to do well, you better call S.W.A.T and check for bodies buried in the back yard.

Remember this guy didn't just ignore some little "rules".
He blatantly lied about being a U.S, citizen and so acquired firearms illegally and ignored U.S. game and wildlife LAWS and did what he wanted and that was to make money from POACHING black bears.
He's in hella big trouble I'm afraid. As the ol' saying goes,"If ya can't do the time, don't do the crime".
They should drop him off at that place in Alaska where I believe that bear lover and his girl friend were both found in the belly of a big mean Grizzly.
How poetic, he ends up as bile himself in the gall bladder of a bear.

Coolkevin...
The article states government agencies have been watching him and probably gathering evidence since 2007 so yes, it should be interesting to read the out come. I shall be ever so vigilant and watch for any new news.
That is, when I'm not out and about deliberately running over and killing dogs in my SUV because it's fun.

 

[camlost245]

"You know, in ancient cultures bears were considered equal with men."
And in some they were considered to be gods or the spirits of ancestors. I have no problem with the guy hunting bears, but if he's just killing them for their gall bladders to make money then he shows a lack of respect for the bear. That would be a sad thing.:distressed:

 

[lowleg26]

Does anyone know of a book about how these "animal part" medicines came about?

I find it hard to believe that, long ago, somebody who was sick was eating a bear gallbladder and suddenly screamed "I'm Cured!"

Seriously, where do people come up with this stuff?

 

[scarletsnow]

It could be that distributed between all sufferers of all illnesses they tried all bodyparts of all animals and some became more used over time than others based on reputation.

Maybe someone cut open a dead person and noticed an inflamed gallbladder and decided that if anyone had similar pains as the deceased had suffered they should eat the healthy gallbladder of a strong animal like a bear and when the condition of the patient actually improved, it became accepted as a cure.

 

[Aqua2213]

Does anyone know of a book about how these "animal part" medicines came about?

I find it hard to believe that, long ago, somebody who was sick was eating a bear gallbladder and suddenly screamed "I'm Cured!"

Seriously, where do people come up with this stuff?

I had provided a PDF doc. in Post #5 that easily explains a lot about bears and the uses of it's body parts. Sadly it only has had one view, and that was by me.:dunno:

A couple excerpts:

For the purposes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the bear is a
walking drugstore. Many parts of the bear, from fat to brain to
spinal cord, have been used for millennia. The most coveted
medicinal part of the bear is the bile within the gall bladder, which
gram for gram can exceed the cost of narcotics.

Bears as medicine
Contrary to popular references of bear gall bladders being used to
stimulate sexual potency, bear bile is not prescribed as an
aphrodisiac in the classic tenets of TCM.
Medical applications include treatment of life-threatening cancers, burns, pain and
redness of the eyes, asthma, sinusitis and pain in general.
Bear gall
bladder is also used to treat serious liver ailments and as a tonic to
prevent liver damage from over-consumption of alcohol.
Bears are the only mammals to produce significant amounts of the
bile acid tauro ursodeoxycholic or UDCA.
The Giant Panda is the
only exception to this rule in that it produces no UDCA, and
anecdotal evidence suggests this is the only bear species not hunted
specifically for its gall bladder.
Today, UDCA made synthetically
from cow bile is used in Western medicine to dissolve gallstones and
has shown promise in treating a fatal form of cirrhosis.
China, Japan and South Korea together consume nearly 100 tonnes
of synthesized UDCA every year -- well over half the world's annual
consumption. However, no documentation attests as strongly to the
continuing popularity of bear gall bladder in East Asia as does
China's bear bile farms, where nearly 10,000 bears are kept and bile
is routinely drained from live bears through devices implanted
surgically in their gall bladders.

The origin isn't so important as much as where science and traditional medicines are today. The UDCA compound must be good if we (Western society) are making synthetic UDCA from cow bile for treatments here.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

The question is, "How did people start believing in animal parts-medicine in the first place?"

The answer is, "The same way they discovered cheese, liquor, and mayonnaise: somebody was both willing and able to try it out." Think about it: if you didn't know cheese as cheese, and I presented you with a block of "fermented milk curds," i.e. rotten milk, would you seriously consider eating it? Probably not. If you didn't know portabella mushrooms as portabella mushrooms and I handed you a basket filled with "fungus stalks collected off of a goat turd," would you want to eat that? If I said to you, "Duu~uuuude! I like, left this pot of rice out for 40 days, man! And look what happened!" and I showed you a pungent fermented brine, would you go, "Eugh, sick!" or would you say to me, "Hmm, looks scrumptious! Let us call it sake!"

The fact of the matter is, as nuts as these behaviors sound to you, somebody actually did them. Somebody was the world's first cheese-eater. Somebody was the world's first brewer. Somebody was.

Ditto for medicine, for technology, for pretty much any and every human innovation you can think. Some are less trial-and-error than others, but fundamentally every single human invention has been the answer to the question, "... I wonder what happens if I do this?"

 

[guy]

"How did people start believing in animal parts-medicine in the first place?"

Just a couple observations.

1: that type of "acquired knowledge" is in no way unique to humans. Other animals exhibit behaviors of "understanding" what is good for them and what is dangerous. They may not be able to comprehend it on the same level of consciousness as humans; in fact it's probably just hardwired into their brains through the evolutionary process (instead of, say, with humans and passing on knowledge through writings). But it's the same idea nonetheless.

2: I think the question begets the more fundamental (and philosophical) question, "How did people start believing in the first place?"

3: I think that question, as well as the postulation "I wonder what happens if I do this?", both beget the core idea: "How did people come to think in the first place?", or "Why do humans even think at all?".

Because really, if human beings had no capacity of higher thought, then we would be just like every other animal. Killing bears for their gall bladders wouldn't be "right" or "wrong" (ie: "legal" or "illegal"), we would just be doing it out of our pre-programmed sense for survival.

 

[Aqua2213]

Japanese man killed by bear

Japanese man killed by bear

Posted Mon Apr 7, 2008 3:00pm AEST

A bear mauled a 50-year-old man to death on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on the weekend, police said.

Seiichi Horinuki, 50, was picking edible wild plants with one of his colleagues when he was attacked on Sunday afternoon, a police spokesman said.

Bears occasionally attack people gathering plants in rural Japan. This was the first fatal attack in Hokkaido this year, the spokesman said.

Following a request from the local authorities, hunters later shot and killed the brown bear believed to have attacked the man, local media reported.

The number of bears on Hokkaido is estimated to be between 1,800 to 3,600, and they are not threatened there with extinction.

Farmers and other locals sometimes hunt bears in the area where the man was attacked to prevent them from ruining crops and intruding on residential areas.
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Paybacks a Mother f*cker!!

Bear probably thought the old berry picker was after his gall bladder

Let's see......what's the score:

Humans: umteen thousands

Bears: 1

In other news: More indepth info on our bear killin' shrink....



Story Updated: Jan 15, 2010 at 7:36 AM PST

SEATTLE -- A Japanese doctor is facing charges in King County following allegations he illegally killed black bears in Washington state and smuggled bear gall bladders out of the country.

Tohru Shigemura, 71, has been charged with unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, and alien in possession of a firearm without a license.

Investigators believe Shigemura obtained firearm and hunting licenses in Washington state by falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, then illegally killed six bears, some of them on tribal land.

According to the statement of probable cause, Shigemura first caught the attention of state officials in April 2007, when they learned he may be "involved in illegal hunting, smuggling of wildlife part, and trafficking in bear gall bladder."

A psychiatrist by trade, Shigemura told immigration officials he maintains a residence in Seattle and frequently visits "for hunting trips, medical supplies/books, and because he has children who are/were educated in the U.S.," adding "he is interested in bringing bear gall (bladder) back to Japan from the U.S.," detectives with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife wrote.

Shigemura did not provide a reason for seeking the animal organ, but according to the Humane Society of the United States, a bear gall bladder can sell for as much as $3,400 in Asia, where it is sometimes used for medicinal purposes to treat a variety of illnesses including fever, liver disease, convulsions, diabetes, and heart disease.

"A person who eats bear paws is believed to acquire the strength and vigor of a bear, and the consumption of bear flesh in believed to enhance one's virility," the Humane Society's Web site said.

As an alien, Shigemura is not allowed to bring firearm into the U.S., and he was denied entry into the country in December 2006.

Visitors who do not intend to reside in Washington state permanently are also ineligible from obtaining hunting licenses, but because investigators believed Shigemura was hunting illegally, they planted a GPS device on his car.

In March 2008, detectives removed the GPS device, which indicated Shigemura's car had been driven to a sporting goods store in Fife where firearms are sold. The store's records showed that Shigemura purchased a 12-gauge shotgun, as well as a bird call and ammunition, just days before.

In the following months, undercover detectives approached Shigemura, and managed to get invited to his home in December. While at the home, they were shown "various wildlife parts and mounts," the statement said. Shigemura also confided that he'd killed four bears in five days during the summer of 2008, and that he'd hunted on an Indian reservation without permission, detectives said.

The state's hunting limit on black bears is two per licensed hunter per season, which extends from Aug. 1 to Nov. 15.

Detectives served a search warrant on Shigemura's home and vehicle in June 2009, and found evidence that indicated he had killed six black bears and had them processed. They also found 11 firearms, including a pistol, and a number of hunting and fishing licenses. Dried bear gall bladders were also found.

Shigemura admitted to having killed the bears on the Quinault Indian Reservations, investigators said. He also admitted to having obtained firearm by posing as a U.S. citizen.

Shigemura denied smuggling bear gall bladders, using bear gall bladders for medicinal purpose or trafficking in bear parts. He said "he only retained bear gall for a memory of the hunt," the document said.

Records indicate Shigemura was cited in Saskatchewan, Canada for discharging a firearm from a vehicle in October 2005. He was also cited in Iowa, and received warnings in Idaho.
---------------------------------------------------------------

If you still think this guy was the "Angel of Mercy" to his patients in Japan and only had their good health in mind, well, I think you need to see a shrink.

I would not even for a second contemplate doing a third of what he has done for fear of the criminal charges and long jail time I might do.

He's like a THUG terrorist to wildlife!! mg:

 

[lowleg26]

hunters later shot and killed the brown bear believed to have attacked the man

the brown bear believed to have attacked the man

believed

This is gonna wind up like a horror movie where the real bear killer is still out there. By now he's probably mutated, is stronger than ten bears, and has six limbs.

Earths champion will now have to face Ursa Goro in the outworld. Lets hope he has yet to master the dim-mak or we're pretty much fucked. :battered:

 

[Aqua2213]

Bear on Ice Skates Attacks Russians....

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A bear on ice skates attacked two people during rehearsals at a circus in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, killing one of them, Kyrgyz officials said Friday.

In the incident, which happened Thursday, the 5-year-old animal killed the circus administrator, Dmitry Potapov, and mauled an animal trainer, who was attempting to rescue him.

"The incident occurred during a rehearsal by the Russian state circus company troupe which was performing in Bishkek with the program, Bears on Ice," Ministry of Culture and Information director Kurmangazy Isanayev told reporters.

It is unclear what caused the bear to attack Potapov, 25, nearly severing one of his legs while dragging him across the ice by his neck. Medical personnel were unable to save Potapov, who died at the scene.

The 29-year-old circus trainer Yevgeny Popov, who attempted to rescue Potapov, was also severely injured, according to doctors.

"The victim has sustained serious injuries - deep scalp lacerations, bruising of the brain, lacerations on his body. His condition is considered critical," Dr. Gulnara Tashibekova told reporters on Russian state television.

After the incident, the circus was cordoned off by police and emergency service workers. Experts have been brought in to examine the bear, which was shot and died at the scene.
A 71 year old Japanese man from Seattle Washington arrived on the scene to harvest the gall bladder of the circus performer

Russia has a long-standing tradition of training bears to perform tricks such as riding motorcycles, ice skating, and playing hockey. Fatal attacks are unusual.
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Either they promised the bear a new Harley and failed to deliver, or the bear read the story about our beloved shrink.

 

[guy]

A bear on ice skates

Well there's your problem. Bears don't like ice skates.





They only ride unicycles.