Mother and son who killed two bear cubs pay for crimes; is it enough?
Mother and son poachers who killed two bear cubs while trespassing on private property in Oregon last October must pay $15,000 in damages.
Gail Faye Freer, 52, and her son Corey Douglas Loving II, 29, also lost their hunting privileges for three years and will be on bench probation for 60 months, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Tuesday.
“There is no excuse for taking two 8-month-old bear cubs, plus the meat was not taken care of and went to waste,” ODFW District Wildlife Biologist Jason Kirchner said. “This is a loss to Oregonians and to those who respect, value, enjoy, and manage our state’s wildlife resources.”
On or about Oct. 9, 2022, Loving and Freer were trespassing on private land when they spotted a bear cub. Freer encouraged Loving to shoot it, and he did.
They returned to the scene later to ensure the cub had died. But they spotted a cub foraging in the same place. Loving shot it, thinking it was the same bear, but it turned out to be a second cub, which they discovered when they approached the bushes.
An anonymous call to the Turn in Poachers (TIP) Line days later led Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Troopers to the carcasses. The mother bear was never found.
Stop Poaching campaign coordinator Yvonne Shaw said the act shows a blatant disregard for wildlife laws.
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“This was a combination of trespassing, poaching and leaving an animal to waste,” Shaw said. “This demonstrates an attitude of lawlessness while they deprive others of the experience of encountering or hunting these animals during a legal season.”
On Jan 1, 2018, Oregon state legislators doubled, tripled and even quintupled poaching penalties for more than a dozen wildlife species, according to The Oregonian. For unlawfully killing a bear, the penalty is $7,500.
The question is, is it enough?
Photo courtesy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
