“Tel me about the poaching.”

“My favorite topic.” His voice sounded bitter. “Il egal kil ing of black bears was made a misdemeanor by the Lacy Act in 1901, a felony in 1981. But that doesn’t stop the poachers. In season, hunters take the whole bear, use the meat and fur. Out of season, poachers take the parts they want and leave the carcasses to rot.”

“Where does most bear poaching take place?”

“Ten, twenty years ago it was pretty much restricted to the mountains. Nowadays coastal animals are getting hit just as hard. But it’s not just a Carolina problem. There are less than half a mil ion bears left in North America. Every year hundreds of carcasses turn up intact except for the paws and gal bladders.”

“Gal bladders?” I couldn’t mask my shock.

“Hel of a black market. In traditional Asian medicine, bear gal ranks right up there with rhino horn, ginseng, and deer musk. Bear bile is thought to cure fever, convulsions, swel ing, eye pain, heart disease, hangover, you name it. And the meat ain’t chopped liver, either. Some Asian cultures view bear paw soup as a real delicacy. A bowl can sel for as much as fifteen hundred bucks in certain restaurants. Off the menu, of course.”

“What are the main markets for bear gal s?”

“South Korea ranks number one, since the native supply is nonexistent. Hong Kong, China, and Japan aren’t far behind.” I took a moment to digest al that.

“And bear hunting is legal in season in North Carolina?”

“As in many states, yes. But sel ing animal body parts, including gal bladders, heads, hides, claws, and teeth, is il egal. Few years back, Congress considered legislation aimed at halting the trade in bear organs. Didn’t pass.”

Before I could comment, he went on.

“Look at Virginia. State has about four thousand bears. Officials estimate six hundred to nine hundred are kil ed legal y every year, but have no numbers as to how many are poached. Busted a ring up there not long ago, seized about three hundred gal bladders and arrested twenty-five people.”

“How?” I was so repulsed I could hardly form questions.

“Hunters tipped officials to poaching in and around Shenandoah National Park. Agents ultimately infiltrated the ring, posed as middlemen, accompanied poachers on hunts, that sort of thing. I worked a similar sting up in Graham County about ten years back.”

“Not the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest?”

“The very same. The trees may be lovely, but the bears are profit.”

The line hummed as Zamzow sorted through recol ections.

“One couple up there had been in business seventeen years. Jackie Jo and Bobby Ray Jackson. What pieces of work they were. Claimed to sel three hundred gal s annual y to customers up and down the eastern seaboard. Claimed they got their gal s from hunt clubs, farmers, and by their own hunting and trapping.”

Zamzow was on a rol .