By Kristin Bigsby

State troopers are looking for suspects in the recent wasting of a brown bear, which is currently decomposing on a sandbar in the Chilkat River near 19-Mile.

While investigating late last week, Wildlife Trooper Patrick McMullen found a .458-caliber bullet lodged in the shoulder of what looked to be a 400-pound, 4-year-old bear and noticed its claws had been removed.

"It was spoiled when I found it," McMullen said. "Whoever shot the bear may not have been the one that took the claws. It’s definitely a waste, no doubt about it."

River guides CP, Liam Cassidy and Scott Ramsey noticed the fallen bear while on a float trip between 21-Mile and 15-Mile last Tuesday.

CP was the first to spot it.

He stopped his raft just near the bear to check it out. It was face down and seemed like it had been there a few days.

"It was not shot at 19-Mile," CP said. "It definitely came down river."

He contends while it’s not unusual to come across dead animals in the wild, it struck him that all 20 claws were missing.

"Initially, I thought it was a poached bear," he said. "I called Fish and Game…they told me the troopers were the ones to talk to."

"When I first saw it, it appeared to be a big, brown object," said Ramsey, one of several guides who called the trooper’s office to report the incident. "We weren’t exactly sure what it was."

Ravens were feasting on a gaping hole the size of "two pumpkins" in the bear’s chest, Ramsey said.

The rafters have passed by the dead bear several times since they first caught a glimpse. It looks "silty" and "worked over," Cassidy said.

And it seems someone has made an attempt at moving the animal.

One of its arms appears to have been severed, pulled off.

"There was a rope attached to a stick or bar, looked like the arm had been kind of yanked off," Cassidy said.

The rib cage is now exposed, and decomposition is advancing.

"That’s just the natural process out there," CP said. "Things die and go back into the earth… Last year we found a dead moose. The eagles were all over it. I noticed they haven’t touched the bear—only the ravens have."

"We’re concerned," Ramsey added. "It gives me a sick feeling in the belly. Somebody shot a beautiful animal and just left it out there."

Bear hunting is open Sept. 15 through the end of December, McMullen said.

While taking the animal’s claws is not illegal and leaving the flesh behind complies with hunting regulations, failing to salvage a brown bear hide is against the law, he added.

"It’s not poaching, it’s wasting a brown bear," McMullen said. "The birds are picking at it. If we develop a suspect, we’ll match the bullet to the rifle. People talk… Things have a way of turning up later."

The fine for intentionally shooting a brown bear and leaving it is $1,500 and the loss of the firearm.