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June 15, 2009

Man upset after state tells him he can't keep dead bear

Mark Millican

A Dalton man who hit a black bear late Saturday night on I-75 with his truck said he was told by a Georgia State Patrol trooper he could keep the bear. He said later an official with the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) told him he couldn’t keep the bear and that officials would come get it Monday night.

Mike Jewel of 209 Riderwood Drive was pulling a boat behind his Ford F-250 truck after spending time with his family at the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga. He hit the bear around 11:30 p.m. near the Tunnel Hill-Varnell exit.

“There was nothing I could do,” he said. “I didn’t even have time to put on the brakes, he was moving so fast. The back end of my truck went up in the air when we ran over him, and the boat and trailer went up in the air.”

Jewel said his rig jackknifed and it took him almost 300 yards to come to a stop.

“We were very fortunate no one was (driving) to the side of us,” he said. “I’d say it did between $4,000 to $5,000 damage to my truck.”

Jewel said the trooper told him he would call DNR to ask whether Jewel could keep the bear, then went to help a motorist who had broken down on the other side of the interstate. Jewel said he drove to Rocky Face but had trouble turning into a gas station because of the damage to his truck.

He said he called the trooper and was told, “The bear is yours, Mr. Jewel, the DNR doesn’t want it.”

Jewel found the bear and took it home, planning to make a keepsake of it.

“The DNR told me I misunderstood the officer, but I have witnesses,” Jewel said. His wife and daughter were with him, and his son and his son’s girlfriend were also on the scene by then in another car.

The trooper was not on duty Monday afternoon.

Jewel said he had the bear gutted and still had it and its entrails in a freezer at his home.

“I feel like I’ve been used,” he said. “They used me to go up there and get it and gut it, and all they have to do is come get it and skin it out. If that’s what they’re going to do, fine, but I’d like to see it in a public place where my kids and grandkids can go see it. (The DNR) told me they don’t know where they (bears) will end up.”

Chuck Waters, regional supervisor for the DNR’s game management office in northwest Georgia, said he was slightly familiar with the case. But Georgia law is clear about road kills involving bears, he said.

“It’s been a banner year for road kills, but the deal is we can’t give bears to motorists,” he said.

Georgia law states, “It shall be unlawful for any person to possess or transport a freshly killed bear or bear part except during the open season for hunting and taking bears.”

Waters called the “bear part” of the law a pivotal issue.

“There’s an issue with the sale of bear parts worldwide,” he said. “Some cultures believe parts of the bear are aphrodisiacs.”

Jewel said he will talk to legislators and ask them to sponsor legislation like Tennessee’s, which he said allows road-killed bears to be kept by motorists.

According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Web site (www.tennessee.gov/twra), “Individuals wanting to keep big game found dead must first contact the local Regional TWRA office for authorization.”











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