Fred Bear
12-01-2003, 01:56 AM
Nov. 26, 2003
Return stolen polar bear rug ... or else
By ERIC SHARP, Detroit Free Press
DETROIT - The thief or thieves who stole Fred Bear's polar bear rug from the Detroit Archers clubhouse are in the same position as people who steal famous jewels or works or art:
Now that they have it, what will they do with it?
Polar bear skins are rare commodities in the United States, where endangered species laws limit their sale. On top of that, these thieves left a patch of hide nailed to the display case. That will allow police to do a DNA match with any polar bear skin that turns up in new ownership and whose origin can't be established.
``We've been broken into before,'' said Lary Ford, a longtime member and former president of the archery club in West Bloomfield. ``Usually they break into the junior archery stuff and shoot arrows around the building. It's kids that do that. But I think this skin was stolen to order.''
The rug had hung in a display case at the club on Drake Road since 1966. Bear, the most famous archer since William Tell, was a founder of the Detroit Archery Club in 1928, as well as one of the nation's best-known archery equipment makers.
The polar bear was the first one he had shot with an arrow.
Bear didn't count that bear or the next one because his guide applied the coup de grace with a rifle. But he killed the third one outright, and that is the famed-mounted polar bear at the Fred Bear Museum and corporate headquarters in Gainesville, Fla.
The Detroit Archers' skin was given by Bear to Robert Winquest, a Bear Archery sales representative and president of the Detroit Archers in 1969-72.
When Winquest retired, he offered the beautiful, nine-foot-long skin to the club.
``We raised $1,200 in donations to build the glass case for it,'' Ford said.
Polar bear rugs are so rare that you can't find one for sale on eBay, the Internet auction site that offers just about everything else. One Web site offered a much smaller polar bear rug for $1,834 but warned that the rug could not be shipped to the United States (special import permits are required).
So if anyone suddenly displays a polar bear rug in his home, the question of its origin will hang in the air like a loud burp in the middle of a wedding ceremony.
And if I were the moron who stole it, I would make sure I got it back to the owners, and in one piece.
Return stolen polar bear rug ... or else
By ERIC SHARP, Detroit Free Press
DETROIT - The thief or thieves who stole Fred Bear's polar bear rug from the Detroit Archers clubhouse are in the same position as people who steal famous jewels or works or art:
Now that they have it, what will they do with it?
Polar bear skins are rare commodities in the United States, where endangered species laws limit their sale. On top of that, these thieves left a patch of hide nailed to the display case. That will allow police to do a DNA match with any polar bear skin that turns up in new ownership and whose origin can't be established.
``We've been broken into before,'' said Lary Ford, a longtime member and former president of the archery club in West Bloomfield. ``Usually they break into the junior archery stuff and shoot arrows around the building. It's kids that do that. But I think this skin was stolen to order.''
The rug had hung in a display case at the club on Drake Road since 1966. Bear, the most famous archer since William Tell, was a founder of the Detroit Archery Club in 1928, as well as one of the nation's best-known archery equipment makers.
The polar bear was the first one he had shot with an arrow.
Bear didn't count that bear or the next one because his guide applied the coup de grace with a rifle. But he killed the third one outright, and that is the famed-mounted polar bear at the Fred Bear Museum and corporate headquarters in Gainesville, Fla.
The Detroit Archers' skin was given by Bear to Robert Winquest, a Bear Archery sales representative and president of the Detroit Archers in 1969-72.
When Winquest retired, he offered the beautiful, nine-foot-long skin to the club.
``We raised $1,200 in donations to build the glass case for it,'' Ford said.
Polar bear rugs are so rare that you can't find one for sale on eBay, the Internet auction site that offers just about everything else. One Web site offered a much smaller polar bear rug for $1,834 but warned that the rug could not be shipped to the United States (special import permits are required).
So if anyone suddenly displays a polar bear rug in his home, the question of its origin will hang in the air like a loud burp in the middle of a wedding ceremony.
And if I were the moron who stole it, I would make sure I got it back to the owners, and in one piece.