Two people in Cranbrook, British Columbia, were charged in February with a whopping collective $6,000 for illegally poaching a deer and then lugging it away, My East Kootenay Now reported.
The laws in place in Cranbrook — as well as most areas that allow hunting — set hunting parameters using deer antlers, with each tine (or antler branch) being counted in a point system. The rules in place often limit lower-point deer hunting, as this often signifies immature age. The mule deer these individuals killed was three points, while the law required four points to hunt them legally.
After a complaint call to the Report All Poachers and Polluters hotline from a witness, the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service went to investigate the couple. According to My East Kootenay Now, COS reported that the woman told them "she had killed a four-point mule deer but forgot to cancel her species license, and a bear had come and taken the mule deer's head along with the antlers."
Despite what she reported, the couple had actually tried to hide their actions from authorities by sawing the antlers from the deer and ditching the carcass nearby. After lying to the officials, the conservation officers, along with COS K9 Major, discovered the implicating remains in a nearby garbage dump.
According to a post on the British Columbia Conservation Office Service Facebook page, the woman who had killed the deer pleaded guilty to "two counts under the Wildlife Act; for killing wildlife not within an open season and resisting or obstructing an officer in their duty." She is expected to pay a $4,000 fine and has been banned for three years from hunting.
The post also said the man she was with pleaded guilty to "one count under the Wildlife Act, for the unlawful possession of dead wildlife." He received a $2,000 fine and an 18-month hunting ban.
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While laws about poaching have become more strict throughout the world to protect animals and their ecosystems, the witness who reported this couple's act is a testament to the role of the nature-loving public. Though law and environmentalist enforcement do their best to hold people accountable, it is vital for onlookers to report any unlawful-seeming hunting.
By preventing poaching, we can avoid unsafe wildlife scenarios and keep the earth a clean, natural, and plentiful space for all.
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