About 50 miles north of the Wyoming line on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Stacie Joiner smelled something foul and saw a bloody mass on the ground at Crazy Head Springs on Tuesday. She immediately feared it was a missing man the reservation community has been searching for.
What she found instead didn't give her much peace of mind.
“I was relieved it wasn't a person,” Joiner said. “And then I look closer, and I'm like, ‘Oh my god, it's a baby bear.’”
While immediately relieved she hadn’t stumbled upon a body, Joiner looked for any other explanation first.
The area of Crazy Head where she found the bear has a picnic table and a fire pit, so she initially thought maybe the carcass was a pig from a pig roast.
When she realized it was a bear, she assumed it must have been mauled to death by another animal.
On closer look, she realized that explanation didn’t track either.
“When I seen the paws cut off, I just broke down,” Joiner said. “I couldn't do anything other than pray.”
‘How Could Someone Be So Cruel?’
The carcass was missing all four paws, seemingly cut clean at the ankle, as well as its head.
The body had been cut cleanly open, exposing the inner organs and bones, and the fur was scattered. Some areas of the carcass looked to Joiner as if they had been burned.
“It was just so sad,” Joiner said. “How could someone be so cruel to do that?”
Wyoming authorities know how easily bear remains can spark alarm.
Last December, a report of a possible human hand at the Park County dump in Cody turned out to be a skinned black bear paw, and a sheriff's office spokesman said dispatchers there field a call like that every year or every other year, typically over skinned bear parts discarded by hunters.
Joiner said she’s familiar with hunting, as her husband has taught hunter’s education workshops for more than two decades. What she found at Crazy Head Springs, she said, wasn’t that.
With all four paws missing, she said she wonders if they were cut off to be sold on the black market.
Wildlife officials in other Western states say the market Joiner describes is real.
Last year, a Skagit County, Washington, woman pleaded guilty to a felony wildlife trafficking charge after investigators said she purchased waterfowl and black bear parts, including 24 intact bear claws, from undercover officers.
Washington wildlife officials said parts like those can bring $100 to $200 on the local black market and then sell for thousands of dollars in overseas markets.
The Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Department was not immediately available for comment.
But Ky Kwandibens, who lived and did animal rescue work on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation for five years, said she called and reported the incident when she saw Joiner’s post about the bear on social media.
“I’m not sure if they can help,” Kwandibens said. “But it’s absolutely not OK.”
She said she hasn’t heard back from the department, but understands that investigative resources for any kind of crime are sparse on the reservation.
“Even if somebody murdered somebody, they'll be back on the streets in like 10 years, and then they're back in the community,” Kwandibens said. “So the system is just really broken.”
'A Proper Burial'
Joiner said she feels the same way. She said she reported the incident to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which provides law enforcement on the reservation, but was told there wasn’t an officer available to meet with her.
Because only a handful of BIA officers patrol the reservation, this wasn’t out of the ordinary. While she hopes to hear back, Joiner said she’s not expecting an urgent response.
“She took my name and the chief is supposed to call me,” Joiner said. “But I know how they operate down here.”
Though Joiner said she doesn't know who killed and mutilated the bear at Crazy Head Springs, she believes it grows from general turmoil consuming her tribe recently.
“Our people are hurting,” Joiner said. “Our people are struggling. Our people are hungry. There's just so much dysfunction.
“It's just heartbreaking, and I definitely think the two go hand in hand."
With no legal avenues to pursue, Joiner said she plans to go back to Crazy Head Springs in the coming days with a close friend and do the only thing she can think of to help the bear.
“We're going to go up there and do a proper burial,” Joiner said. “I don't know what else to do other than to bury him, send him off in a good way, and have my brother drum. We’re kind of lawless right now.”
Emma Jane Jackson can be reached at emma@cowboystatedaily.com.
