TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma game wardens have seized a mounted polar bear that had been on display at a Tulsa airport.
Wardens confiscated the taxidermied bear Thursday night from Jones Riverside Airport. Tulsa County game warden Carlos Gomez told Tulsa television station KOTV (http://bit.ly/2ammXLW ) that the bear was legally killed in 1969 in Alaska and brought to Oklahoma. MORE
Americas’ finest.
Every true hunter will agree with their actions. If you shoot a permitted animal you are required to keep the appropriate paper work with its mount.
46 years later.. and they’re just now worried about a stuffed polar bear? geesus when will the stupidity end?
BB for 35 years?
How about the marshals document the paperwork on day 1 and then you are good to go.
I call bullshit. I have a beautiful whitetail mount on loan to a local establishment. There is no way in hell I could produce the hunting license from 1985.
Won it in a poker game?
so do what with it now?
Frank, If I am required to play by those rules, which I have no problem with, why would the airport in Tulsa, where Polar Bears run wild be exempt? I don’t kill anything I don’t eat, except for people, why kill a Polar Bear.
I just think it is a time machine game. You have to know what the rules will be 40 years from now and follow them or you are fined or jailed.
It doesn’t seem to be a reasonable expectation.
I kill most everything I eat, my current favorite is cow, killed with a bolt gun in a squeeze chute. Do I have to keep a receipt from the meat cutter so if I die the marshal’s don’t raid my home and charge my wife with theft?
Someone better get down on their hands and knees and start with the CPR. That poor thing needs to be sent back to the Arctic right now.
My guess is a liberal didn’t like it and dug through a federal code book for 3 days to find a technicality to get the thing removed and as a bonus a guy that has owned it for 30 years gets fined or put in jail.
That laws been around for a long long time. I can’t tell you before 1969, but it’s a good law. And any true hunter would agree. Hunters are the ultimate conservationist. I’ll shoot what I eat and no more.
Who is the decider of such things – let’s enforce these particular laws … let’s ignore these particular laws.
Why does my cynicism make me think there is a political reason for doing the polar bear confiscation at this particular time?
If it’s a seizure and return, why is this the game warden province, instead of the local/county/state police/sheriff?
They also get hyped up about seizing crates of illegal lead pencils and illegal lightbulbs.
when i see officious government busy bodies in action removing a polar bear that was killed in 1969, i want off this planet. suspect some civil servant with pull will end up with the animal in his den.
BB, you haven’t eaten polar bear?
Granted, I don’t eat the clay pigeons I shoot, you are welcome to those if you want them.
Aside from that, why would you think that people wouldn’t eat a polar bear they shot?
My grandfather was a large game hunting guide in Alaska. As a kid I got to eat polar bear and Kodiak bear as well as just about every other critter around the place.
When a large bear was killed, it was gutted and sown back so the air inside would help it float. Then it was put in a creek.
When they got back from the hunt, the natives would have it skinned, pre tanned, butchered, and waiting. They did it in return for a fair chunk of the meat.
It is true that the visiting hunters rarely took more of the meat than they consumed while there, but bear is gamey enough without transporting it thousands of miles without refrigeration, and that luxury didn’t exist while traveling back then, but the meat didn’t go to waste. Much of the offal was even preserved and carried out.
Watch out! We got a badass over here.
I ain’t ever eated no bar — nor no chickadee either. I like macaroni and cheese.
JohnS, I can’t decide whether I’m more amazed that you posted that dribble or that some retard liked it. The Freaken Eskimos don’t even eat Polar Bear. Look it up. Black Bear yes. Brown Bear no. White Bears no. Once again you go off half cocked which is what your name should be here. For more reason than one I’m guessing.
It sounds like a power grab to me.
1969?!?! Are there no statutes of limitation here??
Hell, I don’t know, maybe it’s a reinforcement for Al Gores declaration about polar bears being endangered….which is a total crock. Either way and even so…..It’s Bullshit.
Hey, federal agents, why not pursue more important crimes…..like illegal immigration?
I ‘m not reading it the same as y’all.
What I read is someone may have claimed ownership, the family tracked it down and contested that claim.
You know, like Nazi art.
Openthedoor
that was my first impression. but fish and game confiscate. they don’t handle mediation.
Openthedoor, no no, I’m reading exactly what you are. And you need the Tag with the mount.
I thought the Endangered species act didn’t come into play until 1984. The bear would have/should have been grandfathered out of the law if it truely was shot in 1969. Hell, I know a guy who got a bounty for shooting seals and sea lions in Oregon when he was a kid.
What’s the endangered species list have to do with this?
BB
fish and game confiscate with resultant criminal actions. they would not get involved in an ownership dispute.
Red, I don’t beleive this has anything to do with “ownership”. The owner is the person that had the legitimate tags to take the animal. The card game is not legitimate ownership.
my point is that fish and game only show up when they wish to criminally charge and/or confiscate. why they got involved here is odd.
Fish & Game don’t need a warrant to search. Probably why.
Hell, I read it wrong the first time. The bear was LEGALLY killed. I thought it said “illegally”.
And the person who had possession didn’t have proof that the bear belonged to him. So Fish & Game don’t have to ask anybody permission to go in and have a look. Maybe they are just trying to return the bear to the rightful owners?
Is that right? I’m having trouble watching videos lately so that is just from what I read.
Unruly, as you know, the Tags got to be with the animal. So if somebody one this mount in a poker game all would have been cool if they had a copy of the original tag. It’s just hat simple. I don’t get the big deal here.
Won
But they know that it was legally killed. I’m just trying to get a handle on the story. Why go pursue it after such a long time period if it was taken legally? Something is missing in the story.
Unruly, I’m guessing some asshole lib complained. But the DFG is one of the few federal agencies that seem to do a decent job. If the Tags not with the mount what choice do they have? Oh and there’s no damn rivers to float a sewn up White Bear down when your hunting on tundra in July on a Polar cap.
Libs always seem to be finding shit at airports to complain about.
Air-tight polar bears that have been gutted and sewn up. lol. I don’t get cable or satellite anymore so I can’t watch any of that sci-fi crap. 😉
Unruly, you better talk to JohnS. He floats down the Pacific with his dead air tight bear and docks at Pier 39 in San Fransisco.
Brad, that Oakland drinking water is probably recycled hippie piss, full of LSD and other hallucinogens. I went back and read that comment to figure out what you were talking about. Usually I just skip his comments.
Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office and Tulsa County game warden rushed to the Jones Airport Thursday night to seize a mounted polar bear.
Officials say the bear is 6-feet tall and 4-feet wide. Tulsa County game warden Carlos Gomez says he tracked the stolen bear in a hangar at the Jones Airport.
Gomez says he had to ask Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office for assistance to move it.
He says although polar bears are not endangered, they are considered threatened and you must have proper paper permits to have a mounted polar bear in the U.S.
“The item was roughly mounted decades ago by a guy that has the proper paper work to bring it to Oklahoma. He brought it to Oklahoma and passed away. His heirs tried to track down where he stored the polar bear, when they tracked it down someone else has latched on to it and decided it was theirs.” said Gomez.
Gomez says they know who owns the bear. He expects there will be criminal charges in the future.
Game wardens say the value of the display is more than $50,000.
http://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/mounted-polar-bear-found-by-game-wardens-at-jones-airport
so many laws, so much time to find one you violated.
unless you are hillary and have had FBI files illegally in your hands for blackmail research.
Either this was a colossal waste of time and money or someone high up wants it for his house.
The plain fact of the matter is that Jones Riverside Airport is just unbearable.
😇
“The Aristocrats!”
“Eskimos don’t eat polar bears”
Boy you town dandies say the strangest things.
So, there’s an ownership dispute over a legally shot polar bear.
Still doesn’t explain why the Fish & Game got involved instead of the po-po.
The cover story is bullshit, it was removed because it would be “psychologically devastating” if seen by other Polar bears.
A lot more detail here:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/wildlife-agent-seizes-taxidermy-polar-bear-from-jones-riverside-airport/article_36378c86-2be0-52ab-be5b-962c62c9ed9b.html
Now I’m wondering if there’s a statute of limitations on the state collecting estate taxes after probate is settled. Does the state attempt to amend it and come after the heirs, or just call it a day?
If it were CA, I assume definitely not. OK is a little more sane. But then, when it comes to money, all the gov entities are on tilt.
BB, you should visit Alaska sometime.
It ain’t like what you have learned from watching Disney movies.
There are rivers and mountains and all kinds of stuff!
This Gomez fellow is always involved in crazy crap and he doesn’t always know the law himself and sometimes although the law is on his side he is a d..k about it. One such case was a guy who hit a deer, he called the game warden in his area who gave him permission to take the deer and put it in his freezer. Somebody saw him put it in the back of his truck and called Gomez, although it was outside of Gomez’ coverage. They gave the guy’s tag number, Gomez showed up with a search warrant at his house. Caused a big stink, threatened all these charges and fortunately for the man the game warden who gave him permission intervened. Gomez got his name in the paper and got to talk to media, yet after the fact when it came out he screwed up, there was no follow up with him.
Another case was over antlers, a guy found shed antlers, he had them for sale on FB and CL, Gomez came after him. The guy didn’t know he couldn’t sell them, I didn’t know that either. Gomez said ignorance was no excuse and charged the guy. I never heard the outcome of that one.
Another was a case of some kind of water turtle that a kid found at the creek, they were trying to sell the habitat and turtle. I guess you can only buy that turtle from a pet store and it’s illegal to take it from the wild. Gomez went after them as well. They ended up paying a lot of fines.
In this case it gets stranger and stranger, the bear was abandoned for years. The kids didn’t come looking for it for a long time. I do know in this state they have auctions all the time of abandoned storage units and everything in it becomes the property of the owners and there are often mounts in them. I have a feeling this one is going to be tied up in the courts for a long time.