Anyway, for the record, I am sorry I didn’t tell you the truth that night.
I really am.
Once I discovered those bears in Mr. Braemarie’s barn, I was burning to figure out exactly why they were there. What purpose could Mr. Braemarie possibly have for keeping a bunch of bears secretly locked up in an old barn? It didn’t make any sense. I decided I didn’t know enough about bears, so some research was definitely needed. That week, I did lots of Internet surfing and learned some very disturbing things about bear poaching. I had no idea that certain bear parts were considered so valuable to some people ...
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ANIMALS IN THE WILD: BEARS
Jan/Feb — Volume VI, # 4
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wildlife outside of federal, provincial, or territorial hunting rules; the unlawful taking or killing of game.
Bear parts are in great demand internationally, especially in South Korea, China, and Japan. Bears are unique in that they are the only mammals that produce significant amounts of the bile tauro ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which was listed as a medicine in the first official pharmacopeia in the world in China in 659 AD. Chinese medicine uses UDCA to treat an extensive list of ailments, from cancer to tooth decay. In spite of the fact that there are many synthetic and herbal alternatives to bear bile for medicinal purposes, genuine bile continues to be the preference of many.
Bear farms, in which bears are kept in restrictive cages and tapped for their bile, were initially established in China to ensure an ongoing supply of bear bile to a demanding market. Unfortunately, bear farming had the result of boosting demand for bear products, encouraging bear poaching. Bears who live in bear farms suffer psychological damage because of the living conditions. These farms are currently being regulated and phased out of existence.
Bear paw soup is considered an exotic delicacy by some. A bowl of this soup may sell for several hundred dollars. According to the Humane Society, in some Asian nations, bears, while still alive, have had their paws boiled or have been lowered onto hot coals and bludgeoned. There is a belief that the meat will be tastier when adrenaline is forced to flow through the animal during violent trauma before being killed. There have even been reports of bears being killed in front of restaurant customers.
Bear claws are desired for their ornamental value for traditional jewellery. Also, they are thought to be symbols of good health, strength, good luck, and fertility. In some countries, they are sold as souvenirs.
The shortages of the Asiatic black bear, sun bear, sloth bear, giant panda, and brown bear have led to increased black bear pressure throughout Canada and the U.S. In 1992, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) listed the black bear in Appendix II as a species that is not considered threatened with extinction but that may become so if their trade is not regulated. Black bears are considered a “look-alike species” to those species actually threatened. This listing was to assist with the enforcement and protection of the endangered bear species. Since that date, a hunter wishing to transport any part of a black bear through Customs of any of the 152 nations that are signatories to CITES has to obtain a CITES export permit.
Many laws and regulations have been put in place to address the issue of black bear poaching in North America for the purposes of international black market trade. Conservation Officers are supplied with appropriate equipment and training. Special Investigation Units have been established through the Ministry of Natural Resources, and collaboration between Environment Canada Intelligence Officers and international enforcement agencies occurs to combat poaching operations.
Poachers are likely to work in groups. Approximately 60 percent of poachers are involved in other criminal activities: trafficking drugs; smuggling contraband; possession of prohibited weapons; break and enters; theft; and major traffic offences. There can be links to organized crime. Some work with sophisticated equipment, such as aircrafts, devices for night hunting, and scanners that allow them to eavesdrop on law enforcement communications.
Sentencing for poachers varies depending on the state or province in which the offences occur. Poachers may face imprisonment — up to six months for a first offence — and fines ranging from $6,000 to $50,000.
The next day at school, Mindi called me over to sit with her and her friends at lunch. To my surprise, I was even invited to join them for a sleepover that Friday night at Mindi’s house. I couldn’t believe Cori actually went along with it — she’s not my biggest fan. And to my bigger surprise, when I asked if I could go that night at dinner, you actually let me without interrogating her mother first! Interesting how the rules were different for Mindi’s home in town versus the farmhouse.
The point is that while at Mindi’s, I learned something about Cori that would later turn out to be very important.
THE SLEEPOVER
DATE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
LOCATION: MINDI’S HOUSE
It gave me a tremendous sense of freedom to not have to head to the bus area at the end of that day. Leaving the school with the other girls made me feel that I might have a chance to fit in here after all. My mood was soon dampened, however, because of Cori. She clearly wasn’t thrilled to have me along. She didn’t talk to me once during the short walk to Mindi’s. She deliberately ignored me while we were making snacks. Then she acted like I wasn’t even there when we sat in the TV room to watch Oprah while we ate. It was very obvious; I wasn’t welcome.
When Stacey and Mindi took our used cups and bowls back to the kitchen, Cori and I were stuck alone together. The awkward silence between us was unbearable — for me, anyway, as she didn’t look like she cared. When I couldn’t stand sitting there in silence any longer, I mumbled something about helping out in the kitchen and escaped from the room. How can anybody be so unfriendly? As I approached the kitchen, I heard Mindi speaking.
“We have to do something about Cori. She’s being awful to Sarah. She’s going to ruin everybody’s fun.”
I gulped and froze in my tracks.
“I know,” Stacey agreed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have invited Sarah. For some reason, Cori doesn’t really like her.”
“What do you mean I shouldn’t have invited Sarah? She’s my friend and I have every right to invite any friend I want to my house. Besides, it isn’t Sarah who’s ruining our fun. It’s Cori. We have to talk to her.”
My face burned and I blinked back a tear, silently thanking Mindi for calling me her friend.
“I’ll talk to Cori,” said Stacey. “I’ll take care of this.”
I wanted to die. Why didn’t I just go home on the bus, as usual? Not knowing what else to do, I reluctantly walked back to the TV room. As I entered, Cori threw me a dirty look. That did it! Now, I was angry. How dare she be so rude to me? Who did she think she was? I was Mindi’s friend; she said so herself.
Before I could actually say anything, Stacey and Mindi came into the room behind me, causing a magical transformation in Cori’s face. She went from totally hostile to ultra-friendly. What a fake.
“We had a great idea, you guys!” Mindi announced brightly — a little too brightly. “Let’s grab a basketball and head over to the school and play two-on-two before supper! There’s usually lots of guys hanging around there,” she added, smiling hopefully.
“Sounds good to me, Mindi,” chimed in Stacey, mechanically, as if the lines had been rehearsed. “What do you think, guys? Sound good?”
Cori shrugged nonchalantly, but she did get up. I forced myself to smile, and I mean forced, while secretly aching inside. It was just too painful. I felt like a charity case. I knew that I was the cause of all this awkwardness.
“Actually,” I said, stiffly, “I think I’m going to head out. There’s something I forgot I have to do at home tonight. Could I use your phone, Mindi?”
Mindi eyes widened in alarm. “No, you can’t, Sarah. I want you to stay!” she protested. “We’ll play basketball and have a great time, you�
��ll see.”
“We want you to stay, Sarah,” chimed in Stacey. “Really we do.” She looked hard at Cori. Cori was smirking, finally enjoying herself.
Mindi tightly linked her arm through mine. “We need you to stay so we can play two-on-two, right, guys?” She looked hard at Cori, who had no choice but to grudgingly agree.
I looked back and forth between Mindi and Stacey. They were trying so hard to make this fun. I decided that I should at least hang around to play a little basketball, then I’d definitely go home. So I grudgingly agreed to stay a bit longer.
During the short walk to the school, Mindi and I walked ahead of Stacey and Cori. I didn’t have to look behind us to know that Stacey was earnestly appealing to Cori to be nice to me. How humiliating. My face burned the whole way to school. I wasn’t used to feeling like such an outsider, like an intruder into other people’s lives, and I hated every minute of it.
Dad, I bet you didn’t realize how cruel teenage girls could be to each other, did you? See what your stupid transfer was putting me through? We should have just stayed in Mississauga where I actually had friends who liked having me around.
“I really have to go home after this, Mindi. Sorry,” I said, trying hard to keep the tremor out of my voice.
“No, Sarah!” Mindi pleaded. “Stacey and I want you to stay. Let’s just have fun.”
“Mindi, nobody’s having fun. Cori doesn’t like me and that’s that. You can’t please everyone,” I shrugged, turning my face away from Mindi so she wouldn’t see me blinking back tears. The last thing I needed was for my so-called new friends to know how upsetting all this was to me, how desperately I wanted to fit in with them and belong.
“Cori just has to get to know you. Then she’ll like you as much as Stacey and I do, you’ll see,” Mindi reassured me. “Please don’t go home.”
I smiled weakly but didn’t answer. Mindi was wrong. I didn’t think Cori would ever like me.
As Stacey predicted, there were boys hanging around the outdoor basketball courts at school. Chris LeBlanc, one of Roy’s new friends, was among them. He was busy talking to some other boys using wide gestures with his arms, reminding me of Roy’s dramatics. He turned when we approached, smiled, and waved. We waved back, myself included. I hoped he didn’t remember me and Roy’s goofy story about my surgery.
“Hi, Chris. Watcha doing?” Cori called brightly.
Wouldn’t you know it? Cori the grouch-queen undergoes yet another magical transformation at the sight of the opposite sex. Bitter, unattractive frowns instantaneously disappear, to be replaced by wide, toothy smiles. Not only is she a fake, she’s a flirt. A regular Dr. Jekyll and Miss Hyde.
“Hi, Cori. Just hanging out. We were about to start a game. Why don’t you girls join in? That would give us enough for two full teams.”
Cori and I ended up on the same team, but the new and improved Cori didn’t seem to mind my presence one bit. In fact, she was real buddy-buddy with me in front of the guys. What an actress!
Playing with the older boys made for a fast-paced, physical game. It didn’t help that every time I got the ball, Chris was right there guarding me, making it just about impossible to pass or shoot. He was good. In the end, my team won. Even Cori gave me a high-five.
I glanced back at the basketball court as we began the return walk to Mindi’s. Chris was watching us go and he gave me a small wave. I returned it.
“Are you two in love or what, girl?” Stacey laughed.
“What do you mean?” I asked, shocked. “
Are you kidding? You and Chris! He was all over you the whole game!” Stacey accused with glee.
“He was guarding me. He’s supposed to be all over me,” I protested.
“Yeah — but he was all over you!” repeated Stacey.
“He’s just a good basketball player,” I said with a shrug.
This caused such an eruption of giggles from the others that I couldn’t help but join in. What the heck, if they wanted to think that Chris and I had something going on, let them.
Don’t have a hairy canary, Dad, we didn’t.
“You can have Chris,” said Cori, who seemed to have given up entirely on scowling, even with no boys around. “It’s Ryan for me!”
“Oh, was he the one with the dark hair and the Nike shirt?” I asked.
“Yes! He’s to die for!” breathed Cori, spinning around.
“We all want him!” chimed in Stacey.
“Except Sarah,” noted Mindi. “She’s already got Chris!”
I blushed like crazy but I was happy. We were finally all getting along. I ended up staying the night after all. What the heck, I was actually having some fun. Cori and I seemed to have come to a truce. We’d never be best friends, but we could get along. Go figure.
After supper, we did the usual sleepover stuff. You know, put on lots of makeup, played with each other’s hair (mine ended up full of tiny braids), did our nails, and so on and so forth. Amazingly, Cori continued to be civil to me, even friendly at times, when she forgot that she wasn’t supposed to like me. Afterwards, we made popcorn and settled down to watch a movie that Mindi’s mom had rented for us. The movie was a love story with lots of romance and adventure. It was cool. When it was over, we talked about how romantic it would be to fall in love with a prince and live happily ever after.
“What about Roy?” asked Cori with a sideways glance at me. “Who thinks he’d make a good prince?”
“Yuck! I think I’m going to puke!” I yelled. I rolled around on the floor, holding my hands to my throat and sticking out my tongue. Like I said, I was actually having a good time. Besides, any time I get to trash Roy is a good time.
“I’m sure Mindi’s thinking of Roy,” pointed out Stacey. Mindi giggled.
I sat up, ready to stop this train of thought once and for all. I leaned towards them and lowered my voice confidentially. “You think Roy’s hot?” I asked them.
“Yeah,” nodded Stacey. The others nodded right along with her, causing the gorge to rise up in my throat again.
“See, you think you like Roy but that’s because you don’t know him,” I said. “I could tell you things about him that would make your toes curl.”
“Really? Tell us!” said Cori, eagerly.
That was not the reaction I was going for.
“No,” I protested. “I meant toes curling in a bad way. I can tell you bad things about Roy. Things that would make you hate him.”
“You couldn’t tell me anything to make me hate Roy,” said Mindi with a dreamy look on her face.
Ugh! Clearly I had no control over these girls. If they wanted to think Roy’s a hottie, I guess I wasn’t going to be able to convince them otherwise. They’d just have to find out for themselves what a pig he really was. They talked a bit longer about Roy but I tuned them out. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Sarah, did you know that Cori’s dad is a Conservation Officer?” asked Mindi. I was startled out of my reverie by this abrupt change in topic.
“Oh, yeah?” I said, looking up from the toenail I’d been picking at.
“Well, weren’t you telling me that you have a project to do for one of your classes that has to do with wildlife or something?” she asked, raising her eyebrows as if urging me to go along with her story.
“Right. My project. I forgot all about it,” I said, slapping my forehead. “How could I forget?” Clearly, Mindi was not prepared to tell her friends about the occupants of Mr. Braemarie’s barn. I felt special, knowing that I shared this secret with her.
“Maybe you could talk to Cori’s dad and ask him some questions to help you with your project,” suggested Mindi. “What do you think, Cori, would your dad mind?”
Cori frowned. I’m sure it was killing her to think about doing something nice for me. “I guess he wouldn’t mind.” She looked at me. “He’s pretty busy, though, I don’t know when he’d get a chance to see you.”
“Maybe Sarah and I can go over to your house one day ne
xt week and Sarah could talk to him then. Does he have any books we could borrow?” persisted Mindi.
I stared at her. Did she have this planned? If so, it would have been nice if she’d filled me in.
“Yeah sure,” shrugged Cori. “He has books and videos. Tons of them. What exactly do you want information about, Sarah?”
“I have to do my project about bears and poachers,” I said, with a sideways glance at Mindi. She flinched slightly at “poachers.” I hadn’t had a chance to share any of the research I’d done with her so we hadn’t talked yet about the likelihood of Mr. Braemarie being a poacher. I thought it was very likely. How else would you explain the bears locked in his barn?
“I’ll look at home tomorrow and see what he has,” she said.
“Thanks.”
I watched Cori toss back her blonde hair as the topic changed back to boys and thought that maybe, just maybe, Cori wasn’t so bad after all. She seemed to be willing to help me with what she thought was a school project. And maybe she’d even invite me over, like Mindi suggested, and I’d be able to ask her dad, the Conservation Officer, some questions about bears and poaching. It sure would be easier than trying to get information from the Internet.
I was glad I decided to stay.
So that’s how Mindi found out that I suspected Mr. Braemarie was a poacher. I was certain that his barn was a bear farm — just like the ones I read about in China. What other explanation made sense? Those bears must be getting tapped for their bile. Of course, I had no idea what tapping for bile looked like, but I was sure that was what was going on.
I was disappointed on Monday when Cori told me she forgot to check at home for books or videos about bears and poaching. Then on Tuesday, I was disappointed further to learn that she hadn’t even mentioned me to her father. Finally, by Wednesday, it was clear that Cori had no intention of helping me out in the least with my “project.” How could I have thought that she might be a decent person after all? My first impressions, apparently, were accurate.
The Whole, Entire, Complete Truth Page 7