Whitehorse Daily Star

Men hauled into court for hunting offences

An Alberta man has been fined $2,000 and a Yukoner was ordered to donate $1,000 to an anti-poaching hotline for Wildlife Act offences.

By Justine Davidson on February 4, 2011

An Alberta man has been fined $2,000 and a Yukoner was ordered to donate $1,000 to an anti-poaching hotline for Wildlife Act offences.

Both men pleaded guilty to the charges against them on Tuesday.

In August 2010, Mitchell McKibben of Nanton, Alta., was handed a trio of tickets during an inspection of his outfitting camp near Kluane Lake.

Conservation officers noticed a grizzly bear hide without the required hunting tag attached.

They charged McKibben, a guide, with giving false or misleading information, failing to make a reasonable effort to prevent the person he or she is guiding from committing an offence, and failing to report the offence to the outfitter or a conservation officer as soon as practicable.

Although McKibben didn't kill the bear himself, he was responsible for recording the hunt and ensuring the tag was affixed to the hide, explained Kris Gustafson, the enforcement and compliance manager for the Department of Environment.

"The hunter wasn't charged because the hunter was a non-resident,” he said. "(Non-residents) rely on a guide to stick-handle them through the legal processes in the jurisdiction, so it was the guide who was charged.”

The charge of filing incorrect information was dropped and McKibben pleaded guilty to the other two charges.

He was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for each count.

A Whitehorse man was in court the same day to plead guilty to wasting meat.

Last October, a hunter reported seeing a bison carcass left with edible meat still on it. Conservation officers visited the site and recovered about 40 kilograms of good meat.

Brian Just was subsequently charged.

He was ordered to pay $1,000 to the Turn in Poachers fund within two weeks of Tuesday.

In the 2009/2010 hunting season, registered resident hunters harvested 152 bison, according to the department.

Sixty-nine grizzlies were killed by hunters, 37 by non-residents and 32 by residents.

Comments (1)

Up 0 Down 0

Francias pillman on Feb 4, 2011 at 10:30 am

It's always just a slap on the wrist when animals are involved. If I was running the show people would do jail time. Our animals are not there for you to dispose of them whenever, wherever you choose. Especially the cowards who kill bears, strictly for their hides. Legal or not, it's POACHING.

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