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Hunter facing jail for polar bear he shot a decade ago
The Globe and Mail ^ | 2011 August 24 | TU THANH HA

Posted on 08/25/2011 1:37:53 PM PDT by xp38

In the latest example of the gap between Canadian and American views about polar-bear hunting, a Michigan man could face jail after pleading guilty to bringing home a mounted trophy of a bear he had legally shot in Nunavut a decade ago.

Rodger Dale DeVries, 73, entered a guilty plea this week to one count of illegally importing polar-bear parts.

(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...


TOPICS: Canada; Foreign Affairs; Government; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: polarbears
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1 posted on 08/25/2011 1:37:57 PM PDT by xp38
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To: xp38

No statute of limitations? Or do “environmental crimes” rise to the level of murder?


2 posted on 08/25/2011 1:40:16 PM PDT by bigdaddy45
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To: bigdaddy45
No statute of limitations? Or do “environmental crimes” rise to the level of murder?

...or the level of tax fraud?

3 posted on 08/25/2011 1:45:10 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: bigdaddy45

His crime was smuggling the head home in 2007. He has plead guilty to that. Maximum sentence is 1 year in jail and $100 grand fine. He will likely get less but even so...


4 posted on 08/25/2011 1:45:28 PM PDT by xp38
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To: bigdaddy45

It appears he is charged with the importation of the mounted bear head and not with the shooting itself.

“Rodger Dale DeVries, 73, entered a guilty plea this week to one count of illegally importing polar-bear parts.”

and

“According to court documents, Mr. DeVries travelled to Nunavut in November, 2000, where he obtained a licence and polar-bear tag and paid an outfitter $12,500 to take him hunting.

After killing a bear, he had it mounted by a taxidermist in Calgary. Mr. DeVries then left it in storage with a friend there because he knew he couldn’t legally take it to the U.S.

In the summer of 2007, he went back to Calgary and moved the bear mount and its skull to a storage unit in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. From there, Mr. DeVries and his two grandchildren, both minors, took the trophy by boat to a tiny harbour in northern Michigan, then drove it home.”


5 posted on 08/25/2011 1:46:56 PM PDT by El Sordo (The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.)
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To: xp38

I like this section at the end

Management of polar bears is a shared responsibility between Ottawa and the provinces and territories, with hunting tags issued by the Nunavut government.

A 2009 study by the Humane Society International and the International Fund for Animal Welfare argues that polar-bear trophy hunting is not an Inuit tradition but a recent phenomenon that contributes to less than one per cent of the Nunavut GDP.

Mr. Nirlungayuk said, however, that the tags sold to foreign hunters come out of a community’s quota so that trophy hunting doesn’t affect the number of harvested bears while bringing money to remote communities where the cost of living is high.

He also bristled at the idea of non-natives defining what constitutes the Inuit way of life.

“Who are they to say that it’s not traditional? It’s not traditional for you guys to be in a car. Should you be riding horses? Our culture has evolved.”


6 posted on 08/25/2011 1:50:51 PM PDT by xp38
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To: El Sordo

Why cant he have his bear head? Is this the same kind of enviornmental garbage that does not allow people to care for injured songbirds or pick up bluejay feathers?

Dam**d government regulatory agencies!


7 posted on 08/25/2011 1:52:20 PM PDT by Chickensoup (In the 20th century 200 million people were killed by their own governments.)
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To: El Sordo

What a messy situation.

I am kind of curious about how the “authorities” found out about the mount getting into the USA.


8 posted on 08/25/2011 1:54:53 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin)
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To: bigdaddy45

Increasingly statutes of limitation are being altered to read “x number of years AFTER police become aware of a crime”. So if you do something wrong, and police never learn about it, you’re still on the hook because the limitation clock doesn’t start until after the police find out - rendering the statute of limitation basically null and void from a practical standpoint.


9 posted on 08/25/2011 1:55:55 PM PDT by FromTheSidelines ("everything that deceives, also enchants" - Plato)
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To: xp38
I see nothing wrong with the Inuit way of live evolving. I have a problem when they progress to a modern society while still wanting special privileges for maintaining a historic culture. Like getting special polar bear hunting allowances as an example.
10 posted on 08/25/2011 2:09:18 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: El Sordo

This is yet another lesson on why you must learn to eat what you kill and then clear your plate.


11 posted on 08/25/2011 2:22:49 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: xp38

How did the revenuers even know the man had the thing?


12 posted on 08/25/2011 2:36:52 PM PDT by Sybeck1 (Why does so few (IA, NH, SC) decide so much?)
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To: muawiyah

Polar bear meat contains an exceedingly high level of vitamin A and can be toxic if too much is eaten.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_A


13 posted on 08/25/2011 2:37:31 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin)
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To: Sybeck1

Just a guess but maybe a visitor noticed the trophy and blabbed.


14 posted on 08/25/2011 2:40:17 PM PDT by xp38
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To: Chickensoup

Recently hiking, I came across a recently dead Osprey. As a kid, we would have used the feathers in Scouts. Today, I just walked away, letting them rot. No way would I touch a raptors feathers today. Jail time for picking up feathers from a dead bird.... Insanity they name is regulation...as they say in Hot Fuzz... For the greater good.


15 posted on 08/25/2011 2:46:54 PM PDT by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
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To: xp38

And the pot nears the boil-over point ........


16 posted on 08/25/2011 2:49:47 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles.)
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To: El Sordo

“Rodger Dale DeVries, 73, entered a guilty plea this week to one count of illegally importing polar-bear parts.”

Why? Michigan is thick with hunters, and they know about jury nullification.

Easy not guilty verdict by the hunter jury. The man needs to put some faith in his fellow hunters that they’ll do the right thing.


17 posted on 08/25/2011 3:31:14 PM PDT by sergeantdave
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To: cripplecreek

In that case I’d recommend eating only the safe part ~ don’t be dragging the parts around where it’s not safe to do so.


18 posted on 08/25/2011 4:06:17 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: cripplecreek

In that case I’d recommend eating only the safe part ~ don’t be dragging the parts around where it’s not safe to do so.


19 posted on 08/25/2011 4:06:30 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: FromTheSidelines

“Increasingly statutes of limitation are being altered to read “x number of years AFTER police become aware of a crime”.”

Every time I hear about a change to a law like that, it’s always for the worse.

Almost everything is being run by people who should never be in charge of anything.


20 posted on 08/25/2011 4:24:02 PM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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