Hunter says she found dozens of severed bear paws scattered across rural B.C. road

A North Okanagan woman says she came across approximately 80 bear paws dumped on a road and in a culvert above Shuswap Lake on Sunday.

Brandi, whose last name CBC has agreed to withhold, said she was disturbed by the sight.

"That's 20 or 30 bears," she said. "Whoever did this should be caught and held accountable." 

Video sent to CBC and posted on social media shows the gruesome scene on Estate Drive near rural Anglemont, B.C. 

Brandi, who describes herself as an experienced hunter, said the paws appear to be from adults and cubs. She said they had been declawed and handled in a manner that suggests inexperience.

"This is nothing hunters or a taxidermist would do," she said. "It was a chop job."

Brandi said she contacted Chase RCMP and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service. She said she heard back on Monday afternoon that conservation officers from Kamloops were at the scene and investigating.

CBC has contacted the service and the RCMP but has not heard back.

In B.C., both the sale and possession of bear parts — including paws, gall bladders and genitals — is illegal. 

Bear parts are trafficked on the black market and can sell for thousands of dollars abroad for their alleged medicinal properties.

Brandi said it appeared as if the paws had been dumped out of a vehicle.

"If these are being sold on the black market it needs to be stopped," she said.