Black bears walking through the state's forests carry a tiny package that puts their lives in danger - bear gall bladders are worth $5,000 to $8,000 in Asian markets.
Idaho's bears are at particular risk because Idaho and Wyoming are the only states in the Northwest where it is not illegal to buy or sell the organs."Bears are being poached just for their gall bladders," said Paul Weyland, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Boise.
Idaho Fish and Game officials do not believe the sale of gall bladders should be illegal. They do not consider the practice of poaching for gall bladders widespread enough to hurt the bear population.
"I don't think that poaching is making or breaking the bear population," said Tom Reinecker, chief of the department's wildlife bureau.
About 2,500 black bears were legally killed in the state last year, a little more than 10 percent of a black bear population estimated at 25,000.
Fred Christensen, a former Fish and Game commissioner and now a board member of Citizens Against Poaching, believes bear gall-bladder sales should be made illegal in Idaho.
Bear gall bladders are used in traditional Asian medicines to treat gallstones and other maladies. A chemical found in the gall bladders, tauro-ursodeoxycholich acid, has been shown to dissolve gall stones, said Dr. Ed Espinoza, deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Oregon.
Demand for bear gall bladders has skyrocketed in recent years because black bears have been hunted to virtual extinction in Asia. Espinoza said bear bile is now the most expensive drug in Asia, selling for $1,000 a gram in Korea.
Espinoza said that 0.1 percent of people in Asia buying one bear gall bladder each would wipe out North America's population of 700,000 black bears.
"Right now, the bear population is healthy," he said. "But the possibility exists that, if we don't control trade in bear parts, we could lose the entire population."