https://www.justice.gov/usao-a...l-killing-polar-bear



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Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Alaska

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Alaska Man Charged With the Wasteful Killing of a Polar Bear



Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced today that Christopher L. Gordon, 35, of Kaktovik, Alaska, has been federally charged for knowingly taking a polar bear in a manner unlawful under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, by shooting and killing the polar bear and leaving the harvestable remains to waste. Gordon has been charged in Fairbanks with one count of wasteful taking of a marine mammal.

According to the charging document, on Dec. 20, 2018, near the village of Kaktovik, Gordon allegedly left butchered whale meat outside in the front yard of his residence for a substantial period of time, which attracted a polar bear and other animals to his front yard. Gordon then allegedly shot and killed the polar bear because it was trying to eat the improperly stored whale meat; the shooting was not done in self-defense.

Between Dec. 20, 2018, and May 22, 2019, Gordon allegedly left the polar bear carcass in his front yard without salvaging any portion of the polar bear and allowing it to become covered with snow. This caused a snow removal vehicle to move the polar bear carcass and rip off one of its legs. On May 22, 2019, Gordon caused the polar bear carcass to be discarded and burned in the Kaktovik dump without using any of its parts for subsistence purposes.

If convicted, Gordon faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the investigation leading to the charges in this case. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan D. Tansey.

The charges in the information are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

A good attorney will get that charge dismissed on DLP grounds ... and then sue for damages, which ends up being like a tax refund.

Yep, that's a tried-n-true strategy ...

... sorta like when a dude 'Swiss-cheeses' a Grizz with heavy-for-caliber 9mm cast slugs, and then calls it good-to-go after his Gendarmerie buddies show up to take the obligatory DLP report.

quote:

Originally posted by A.J. Hydell:
A good attorney will get that charge dismissed on DLP grounds ... and then sue for damages, which ends up being like a tax refund.

Yep, that's a tried-n-true strategy ...

... sorta like when a dude 'Swiss-cheeses' a Grizz with heavy-for-caliber 9mm cast slugs, and then calls it good-to-go after his Gendarmerie buddies show up to take the obligatory DLP report.

Uhh...shooting a bear in DLP requires you to skin it, remove the skull, and turn both over to ADFG.

Agreed...

AJ is just trolling another thread.
He has no comprehension of Alaskan bears or our laws .

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
AJ is just trolling another thread.
He has no comprehension of Alaskan bears or our laws .

Or much else that I can tell.

This guy has whale meat and dead Polar bears littering his front yard.

I'd hate to see the back-yard !

Sheesh

This will be dropped. Laws simply do not apply in the villages. Remember the caribou slaughter?

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
AJ is just trolling another thread.
He has no comprehension of Alaskan bears or our laws .

Or much else that I can tell.

quote:

Originally posted by crane:
This will be dropped. Laws simply do not apply in the villages. Remember the caribou slaughter?

Polar bears involve the USFWS. Caribou are a state issue. In either case, I doubt this'll be dropped.
This is sort of the magnitude of shooting a half eagle. I think this fellows gonna get an owwie.

What does DLP mean?

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
What does DLP mean?

Defense of Life or Property

quote:

I think this fellows gonna get an owwie.
Meant to say bald earlier.

So how many people went to prison when the folks in Bethel killed the protected gray whale that went up river? Wrong species. Bethel not authorized to whale under the act. Shot it hundreds of times. Sunk in the river for a few days. Found again and dragged out and thousands of pounds of meat taken, all on video.

ZERO charges AND they got to keep the meat. Since when does anyone get to poach and not only not get charged but gets to keep the animal too? That'll teach'em!

I'm honestly shocked there are any charges at all in this case. Walk around any NW AK village in spring and they all have piles of rotting seal and walrus meat out front for dog food. I counted 7 rotting polar bear hides (green and gray) in front of houses once while everyone in town was celebrating a kid who'd just killed his first with 14 shots from a mini-14. A teeager in another village bragged about how he sunk 14 belugas with his rifle for fun. Traditional. I can only hope the charges stick and this is the start of a trend.

Ask me how I really feel.

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:

quote:

I think this fellows gonna get an owwie.
Meant to say bald earlier.

So how many people went to prison when the folks in Bethel killed the protected gray whale that went up river? Wrong species. Bethel not authorized to whale under the act. Shot it hundreds of times. Sunk in the river for a few days. Found again and dragged out and thousands of pounds of meat taken, all on video.

ZERO charges AND they got to keep the meat. Since when does anyone get to poach and not only not get charged but gets to keep the animal too? That'll teach'em!

I'm honestly shocked there are any charges at all in this case. Walk around any NW AK village in spring and they all have piles of rotting seal and walrus meat out front for dog food. I counted 7 rotting polar bear hides (green and gray) in front of houses once while everyone in town was celebrating a kid who'd just killed his first with 14 shots from a mini-14. A teeager in another village bragged about how he sunk 14 belugas with his rifle for fun. Traditional. I can only hope the charges stick and this is the start of a trend.

Yep, Omni-Bob is obviously a dude who's reality-focused and has 'boots on the ground' in AK.

DLP it, and that Chris Gordon dude beats the rap. Let's get serious. Any half-competent attorney would shred the state's case anyway.

Skinin' and grinin'? Who cares?

Most of the statutory DLP requirements are unconstitutional b.s. anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by A.J. Hydell:

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:

quote:

I think this fellows gonna get an owwie.
Meant to say bald earlier.

So how many people went to prison when the folks in Bethel killed the protected gray whale that went up river? Wrong species. Bethel not authorized to whale under the act. Shot it hundreds of times. Sunk in the river for a few days. Found again and dragged out and thousands of pounds of meat taken, all on video.

ZERO charges AND they got to keep the meat. Since when does anyone get to poach and not only not get charged but gets to keep the animal too? That'll teach'em!

I'm honestly shocked there are any charges at all in this case. Walk around any NW AK village in spring and they all have piles of rotting seal and walrus meat out front for dog food. I counted 7 rotting polar bear hides (green and gray) in front of houses once while everyone in town was celebrating a kid who'd just killed his first with 14 shots from a mini-14. A teeager in another village bragged about how he sunk 14 belugas with his rifle for fun. Traditional. I can only hope the charges stick and this is the start of a trend.

Yep, Omni-Bob is obviously a dude who's reality-focused and has 'boots on the ground' in AK.

DLP it, and that Chris Gordon dude beats the rap. Let's get serious. Any half-competent attorney would shred the state's case anyway.

Skinin' and grinin'? Who cares?

Most of the statutory DLP requirements are unconstitutional b.s. anyway.

You and Bob are id-i-ots.

quote:

You and Bob are id-i-ots.

Well I've been called worse by better men.

I'm not having an argument or childish debate and am done with this. Unchecked wanton waste of animals, with zero accountability, should concern every hunter. If that makes me an idiot then I guess I am. Bye.

Regarding AJ, I've been under the impression for quite a while that there is a village missing its idiot (or Dude!).

Lee

https://www.kentucky.com/news/...rticle240760186.html



Man sentenced after killing polar bear, wasting its meat

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2020 11:12 AM
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA



An Alaska whaling captain was sentenced to three months in federal prison, a year of parole and a $4,500 fine after he fatally shot a polar bear and left the carcass to waste in his yard.

Christopher Gordon, 36, pleaded guilty in December to shooting the bear and leaving its body for months in the front of his home in Kaktovik, an island village on Alaska's northern coast, Anchorage Daily News reported.

Gordon left meat from hunting bowhead whales on his property for a substantial period of time, despite having access to whale meat storage lockers in town, which then attracted a variety of animals, including the polar bear, prosecutors said.


A snow-removal vehicle hit the bear three weeks after Gordon shot and left it, prosecutors said. The carcass was then taken to a dump to be incinerated after about five months, and no part of the animal was ever salvaged.


Gordon, who is Alaska Native, is allowed to hunt polar bear and bowhead whale under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but is only permitted to hunt for subsistence, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline sentenced Gordon on Friday.

Gordon had numerous opportunities to use portions of the bear, including for food or clothing, but did not, Beistline said.

In addition to his sentence, Gordon will only be permitted to hunt bowhead whale during his yearlong parole, but no other marine mammals.

It is kind of nice to see this happen.

I lived in Barrow and was a North Slope Borough Police Officer until the Navy did their big recall in 2000 and I went back.

There was a dead polar bear hanging on a clothes line directly behind the police station in Barrow the entire time I worked there.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:

There was a dead polar bear hanging on a clothes line directly behind the police station in Barrow the entire time I worked there.

That must have been one hell of a clothesline?!


Seriously though, did you mean that it was the skin of the polar bear?

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
https://www.kentucky.com/news/...rticle240760186.html



Man sentenced after killing polar bear, wasting its meat

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2020 11:12 AM
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA



An Alaska whaling captain was sentenced to three months in federal prison, a year of parole and a $4,500 fine after he fatally shot a polar bear and left the carcass to waste in his yard.

Christopher Gordon, 36, pleaded guilty in December to shooting the bear and leaving its body for months in the front of his home in Kaktovik, an island village on Alaska's northern coast, Anchorage Daily News reported.

Gordon left meat from hunting bowhead whales on his property for a substantial period of time, despite having access to whale meat storage lockers in town, which then attracted a variety of animals, including the polar bear, prosecutors said.


A snow-removal vehicle hit the bear three weeks after Gordon shot and left it, prosecutors said. The carcass was then taken to a dump to be incinerated after about five months, and no part of the animal was ever salvaged.


Gordon, who is Alaska Native, is allowed to hunt polar bear and bowhead whale under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but is only permitted to hunt for subsistence, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline sentenced Gordon on Friday.

Gordon had numerous opportunities to use portions of the bear, including for food or clothing, but did not, Beistline said.

In addition to his sentence, Gordon will only be permitted to hunt bowhead whale during his yearlong parole, but no other marine mammals.

Reasonable folks that are familiar with the topic and can put aside preconceived prejudices shouldn't have expected any other outcome than a conviction and sentence.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
Reasonable folks that are familiar with the topic and can put aside preconceived prejudices shouldn't have expected any other outcome than a conviction and sentence.

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2...son-for-wasting-one/

Link has photos of bear.



Kaktovik is crawling with polar bears. Now a man is going to prison for wasting one.


By Nathaniel Herz, Alaska's Energy Desk - Anchorage -March 2, 2020


At the southern edge of Kaktovik, a tiny village on Alaska’s North Slope, the polar bear came around Chris Gordon’s yard on a winter night in 2018. He’d left whale meat out that was being prepared for a village feast, a common practice.

The bear wouldn’t go away. Gordon shot and killed it. Polar bears are a federally protected marine mammal listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

“Got put down tonight,” Gordon wrote in a Facebook post, which showed the bear’s carcass lying in his yard next to a snowmachine. He added later: “I did what I know is right. I can’t let a bear feast on what’s going to be shared.”



On Friday, a federal judge sentenced Gordon, 36, to pay a $4,500 fine and serve three months in prison — not for killing the bear, but for what he did afterward.

As a coastal-dwelling Alaska Native, Gordon was entitled to kill the bear by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but only if he did so without wasting the animal. But instead of harvesting its meat or salvaging the bear’s skin, Gordon left the carcass in his yard for five months before having it moved to the village dump and burned, he acknowledged in a plea agreement filed in December.

“We know that the parties were preparing muktuk in the traditional fashion. That’s all part of village life, and that’s fine,” Judge Ralph Beistline told Gordon at Friday’s sentencing. “We’re not criticizing shooting the bear. We’re criticizing the manner in which it was dealt with once killed.”

Gordon’s criminal prosecution, for a single violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, is unusual. But his case underscores the tensions that arise as polar bears increasingly disrupt village life in Kaktovik, where climate change is melting nearby sea ice and driving the bears ashore.


Some villagers have capitalized on the bears’ presence by becoming tour guides, charging visitors thousands of dollars to travel to Kaktovik and see the bears from the safety of boats. But other residents argue that the tourism boom is making the bears more comfortable around people, and risking everyone’s safety.

In the last tourist season, there were two “close encounters” with polar bears that “almost killed some people,” Edward Rexford, the president of Kaktovik’s tribal government, told Beistline at Friday’s hearing.

“We are getting a lot of negative impacts from that tourism. Polar bears are getting habituated to humans and causing human health and welfare problems,” Rexford said. “This is a very dangerous community that we live in.”

Gordon’s case, which grew out of a late December evening in 2018, underscores some of those dangers, even as his response drew community condemnation.

In addition to his federal prison sentence, Kaktovik’s tribal government and a polar bear management council jointly imposed additional penalties on Gordon: three years of probation, $1,000 in restitution, 300 hours of community service, a public apology to the village and a year-long ban on subsistence polar bear hunting.

Gordon, a captain of one of Kaktovik’s whaling crews, had left small portions of bowhead spread around his yard in the sub-zero temperatures. Bowhead is an important subsistence food source for Kaktovik; Gordon was preparing the meat for a village feast in a traditional style that keeps the chunks from freezing together, his attorney wrote in a sentencing memorandum last week.

The North Slope’s borough government runs a polar bear patrol program in Kaktovik, but that night, members weren’t working, Gordon and Rexford both said at Friday’s hearing. Gordon also said he tried called an emergency number.

“I didn’t want to kill it. Really,” Gordon said Friday. But he’d run out of non-lethal ammunition and, Gordon added: “That thing just kept coming back.”

Prosecutors noted that Kaktovik has bear-resistant food storage lockers available that Gordon chose not to use.

After the shooting, a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, told Gordon “multiple times” that he needed to tag and report the bear. But he did neither, according to prosecutors.

Gordon told USFWS agents in an interview that he didn’t harvest the bear’s meat because he didn’t want to spill its blood around the frozen whale, prosecutors said.

“I did what I wanted to do to stop it from eating my muktuk,” Gordon said, according to prosecutors’ sentencing memorandum. “I asked a few people if they wanted it, they said ‘no.’”

As the dead bear languished in Gordon’s yard, it drew attention and dismay from other Kaktovik residents — including one unnamed witness who posted a video about it on Facebook. At Friday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors played the clip, in which a woman describes the scene outside Gordon’s house over the sound of an idling four-wheeler.

“Here we have a dead nanuq (bear), because this family refused to put their food away properly and be shepherds of this blessing. I am so upset right now. Kaktovik, we need to come together and stop this,” the woman said. “This is not okay, and it’s crossed a line.”

After the woman posted the video, prosecutors said that the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission — a group that Gordon belongs to — pressured her to take down her post. The group told her it “could potentially harm their subsistence and whaling rights,” prosecutors said.

The commission’s executive director, Arnold Brower, did not respond to a request for comment.



A few weeks after the bear was killed, it was hit by a snow removal vehicle, ripping off one of its paws. Then, in May, Gordon had another village resident take the carcass to the village dump, where workers were burning trash. USFWS agents later found the bear’s “charred remains” there, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

“The single paw, ripped off by the snow removal vehicle, remained on defendant’s lawn,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. “The next day, the defendant told federal agents that they could take the polar bear’s paw because it would ‘save me a trip to the dump.’”

In Gordon’s own sentencing memorandum, his attorney, Brian Stibitz, argued that the federal government’s case against him demonstrated a misunderstanding and ignorance of Alaska Native “custom and cultural practices” — in particular, by suggesting that Gordon was irresponsible for leaving the bowhead meat in his yard. That method “is a traditional method of preparing muktuk, and is encouraged among whaling captains,” Stibitz wrote.

Stibitz’s argument echoes a separate one also made by village residents: That USFWS, which manages the neighboring Arctic Refuge, prioritizes the well-being of polar bears and tourists over the safety of Native people who live in Kaktovik.

“We know and respect the interest that the urban people seem to have in protecting the endangered species of animals and plants here. What about us?” Fenton Rexford, a Kaktovik elder, asked USFWS officials at a June community meeting.

Federal authorities said they did not pursue the case against Gordon lightly, or out of a lack of sensitivity to the impact of polar bears on his village. Gordon’s violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, prosecutors argued in their sentencing memorandum, was “brazen.”

In a prepared statement, a top USFWS official said that the agency has been “working closely with Kaktovik residents, leaders, and other partners for over a decade to address human-bear conflicts.”

“We understand the challenges bears pose to the community,” the statement quoted Steve Berendzen, the Arctic Refuge manager, as saying. “Together, we’ve taken some positive steps, including food-storage locker installation and local polar bear patrols. We’ll keep working with our partners to look at additional solutions.”

So, .......his neighbors pointed out he was wrong, the whaling commission did too. He was warned repeatedly by law enforcement.There was obvious alternatives in place to secure the whale meat and he left the glaring evidence of his crime, "on the lawn" for months.

Still he tries to cry foul and claim innocence?

I'm always impressed at the craftiness of my fellow Alaskans that engage in bad behavior.