Mr. Turner, a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, applied for a permit allowing him to possess bear gall bladders. Because of concern about black bears being killed for their gall bladders the Wildlife Act and its regulations make it an offence to possess bear gall bladders except as provided by a licence or permit. The clear purpose of this legislation is to prevent the killing of bears for a single body part, and the Regional Manager refused to override this intention without evidence that bear gall bladders were part of a valid medical treatment.
The Board endorsed the Regional Managers approach and found that the decision was made within his discretion. It therefore dismissed the appeal. In addition, it recommended that action be taken against individuals who possessed ointments and other medicines which contained bear gall bladder parts and not just people trafficking in the actual gall bladders.
