March 21, 2015
From RegisterGuard.com
A Florence man trying to board an airplane in Eugene earlier this month with a number of bear paws in his luggage and a bottle containing bear gall, herbs and whiskey has been cited for unlawful possession of game parts.
More citations may be pending after a search warrant was issued for a barn on Highway 126 and the man’s home on Eighth Street, and police discovered bear heads and bear hides, according to the search warrant. Bear hunting requires a hunting tag, according to state law, something the man, Hong-Shiou Chiou, could not provide at the time of the incident.
Chiou told detectives he was taking the bear paws — in plastic grocery bags — overseas to be made into a necklace for his housekeeper.
The whiskey drink, he said, was medicinal and helped him sleep.
Chiou told detectives he did not know where he got the paws, or whether or not they were his, according to the search warrant.
Chiou told investigators he is a hunter and stores bear meat and other parts in a freezer at his barn, but also receives bear parts from other people, whom he did not name.
During the investigation at the airport, Chiou offered to show detectives his barn, according to the search warrant, and signed a consent form for troopers to search the freezer. Detectives discovered bear heads in bags and bear hides, authoririties said.
Additional charges against Chiou could include unlawful take of wildlife and unlawful possession of game mammal parts without being properly tagged or without written transfer records.