A man who went into Great Smoky Mountains National Park to poach ginseng root (pictured here) might have been killed by a bear/NPS
A black bear believed to have scavenged on the body of a man who went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to collect ginseng roots was killed Sunday morning by park rangers. Whether the adult boar actually killed the man remained to be determined, park staff said.
William Lee Hill, Jr., 30, of Louisville, Tenn., and a friend had gone into the park near Cades Cove a week ago Friday to hunt for ginseng, a root used by some as a traditional home medicine. Prices can go as high as $800 a pound for ginseng. While the root can be collected outside the park, it is illegal to do so inside the boundaries.
When Hill failed to meet up with his friend, a search was launched last Sunday. The man's body was found Tuesday afternoon in the woods about 2 miles north of Cades Cove and about a half-mile from the Rich Mountain Road.
Searchers who found the body, which had signs of being fed on, saw a bear in the area. It "would not leave the area, and continued to show aggression towards our searchers and others who came in to remove the body," park spokeswoman Julena Campbell said Sunday.
Since it wasn't known whether the bear had killed Hill, the decision was made to place a GPS radio collar on the bear and let it go pending further information, she said. While rangers were putting the collar on the bear, they found evidence of human DNA on it, she said.
On Wednesday, park staff, in discussions with Superintendent Cassius Cash, decided to destroy the bear. However, the GPS collar placed on the animal was programmed to send out location signals every two or three hours, and so it took longer than expected to relocate the bear, said Ms. Campbell.
Additional traps were placed near where Hill's body was found, and while the bear didn't go into any of them, on Sunday morning shortly before 10 a.m. when the traps were checked the bear was seen in the area and was killed, she said.
A necropsy on the bear, which was estimated to weigh about 175 pounds, was planned. Park officials also were awaiting autopsy results on Hill to determine how he died.
"This one’s a complicated case," Ms. Campbell said. "We don’t know what we'll find out.”
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Whether this letter is read, or even if you don't care, I need to make my opinion known. I would love to see the killing of black bears in the Smokey Mtn's stopped. Ive wondered if I should make this my life mission to start petitions and talk to legislators about this very disturbing incident that happens way to often in a national park. I'm actually wondering if humans should be allowed into the woods at all. Most have NO COMMON SENSE on what to do in a bear attack, and most don't even think of it. These beautiful mtns. are known for their black bears and I don't think the country see's the slaughtering of the bears (and babies) that takes place every yr. The latest bear killed was suspected on killing a man who was ILLEGALLY DIGGING GINSENG in a NATIONAL FOREST. But the bear was killed because someone illegally came into his territory. WHEN ARE HUMANS GOING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS - this is SADLY how all children and young adults are growing up today. I'm totally disgusted and horrified by the way things are handled by the rangers in this beautiful park. This needs to be made WELL KNOWN WORLD WIDE to see what can be done to protect our beautiful resources. I'm saddened everytime I visit because I know that stories or the wildlife killed while living in the national forest just being bears. I don't enjoy seeing them because I know they are probably next on the euthanasia list. Between the FIRES STARTED BY HUMANS AND ALL THE HUMANS BREAKING LAWS THE BEARS DON'T STAND A CHANCE. SHAME ON THE SMOKEY MTN'S FOR BETRAYING AND KILLING A CREATURE THAT BRINGS MUCH JOY TO LAW-ABIDING, RESPONSIBLE HUMAN BEINGS.
I consider poaching any plant or animal from within a national park to be a serious crime. I do not consider it a capital crime. I don't consider it a capital crime no matter how many times the sanctimonious few hit their shift-lock key, which results, in the modern on-line world in you SHOUTING at me. Not party manners, ma'm.
By the way, I thank the Goddess that you are not in charge of allowing me into the woods, where I live 24/7, by the way.
It's not illegal to go v into the woods. It is to dig any plants, including finding.. Asian people buy it. The park is overrun by bears. I live in Asheville and cullohwee. They get into trashcans and kill and eat DOGS alot.
My Cherokee friends whose land was the park, KILL and eat bear every year if they can. She... You!!!! If not the bears would gobble them up, city dwellers
Disgusting comment. You have no sympathy for the man and his family, nor do you know if he was desperate to feed his family or why he was willing to risk jail.And then you say people shouldn't go into the woods at all,save the poor bears,blah blah. The bears are so plentiful now they are coming into cities and towns to feed, maybe you will get to see one up close yourself
I 100% agree with you!
What you wrote is so true....
I enjoy watching the bears at a distance. A very large distance. I do not wish to see any bears euthanized because of human stupidity. It makes me sick seeing visitors get really close to them in cades cove and surrounding them without a way to escape. They should wear signs that can be picked up at the ranger's station that says "I am stupid." These are beautiful animals, I agree but, they are also very powerful animals. Use your head people. Dont get close to a wild animal. It is stupid to do so. And trust me, its not just GSMNP, they are everywhere. They exsist at every national park as far as I can tell. They step over the boundaries set by the park to take pictures, to touch plants and even disturb wild life. And when something happens they say, "why did park officials do something?" Read the signs people, read the signs!