Illegal Grizzly shooting nets $11,000.00 Fine

[Cariboo]

I am so glad the courts are starting to take these crimes seriously.

INFORMATION BULLETIN

For Immediate Release

2008ENV0082-001176

July 29, 2008
Ministry of Environment





WILLIAMS LAKE MAN CONVICTED IN SHOOTING OF GRIZZLY BEAR







WILLIAMS LAKE – A Williams Lake resident has been convicted and fined a total of $11,000 in connection with the illegal shooting of a grizzly bear in Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park in 2004.

Don Kunka pleaded guilty to one count under section 26(1) of the Wildlife Act and was fined $9,000, with $8,000 of that fine to be paid to the Grizzly Bear Conservation Trust Fund. Kunka also plead guilty to one count under section 29 of the Parks and Recreation Area Regulation, and was fined $2,000 for illegally discharging a firearm in a provincial park.

In September 2004, a female grizzly bear was shot and left wounded and paralysed on the banks of the Atnarko River. The incident was not reported to any authorities and it was approximately 18 hours before park officials were able to put the bear down safely. There were no initial suspects. After a 24-month investigation by the conservation officer service in Bella Coola, and numerous tips from the public, charges were laid in 2007.

Environment Minister Barry Penner would like to thank the Conservation Officer Service, members of the public and the BC Wildlife Federation for their assistance in providing information regarding this case.

The maximum penalty for a first offence conviction under the recently amended BC Wildlife Act is $250,000 up from the previous $50,000 maximum. The penalty can also include imprisonment for a term of two years, up from the previous six months imprisonment. Either or both of these penalties can be imposed under the B.C. Wildlife Act. Park Act offences have a maximum penalty of $200,000. Administrative sanctions may also be imposed.

Illegal hunting and fishing activities threaten provincial fish and wildlife resources. Minister Penner encourages the public to report all poachers and polluters by calling 1-877-952-RAPP (7277), #RAPP (7277) on the TELUS Mobility Network, or by visiting the website at http://www.rapp.bc.ca.

The BC Wildlife Federation offers a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to the conviction of persons breaking wildlife laws, vandalizing private property and breaking other property laws.

Five new conservation officers have been hired this year to enhance the capacity of the Conservation Officer Service to participate in collaborative compliance projects with external partners, and engage in additional compliance activities throughout the province. These officers will be placed in Fort St. John, Golden, Vernon, Nanaimo and Surrey.







In addition, the Conservation Officer Service opened a new office on July 18 in Maple Ridge in the Fraser Valley to help provide enhanced response times.

The ministry is also investing $1 million this year in the Conservation Officer Service’s commercial environmental investigations unit (CEIU). Launched last year, the unit focuses on environmental compliance primarily related to commercial and industrial activities. The CEIU has eight senior investigators and a manager located in five key areas of the province – Prince George, Kamloops, Nelson, Surrey and Nanaimo.

The Ministry of Environment’s Quarterly Compliance and Enforcement summaries can be viewed online at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/main/prgs/comp ... port.html/. In 2007, a total of 2,068 violation tickets and 64 convictions resulted in more than $650,000 in environmental fines.





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Media

contact:
Kate Thompson

Media Relations

250 953-4577






For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at http://www.gov.bc.ca.

[Pydpiper]

Poachers are thieves, they steal from the land as well as the people who actually pay the necessary fees to hunt. Our fees suck but they are a necessary evil that allow monitoring of our nations herds.
Hang them! 11k isn't enough.

[DropTine]

I agree with Pydpiper11k is no where near enough!

[ehntr]

It's hard enough to maintain a grizzly hunt and then there are the bad guys who drive non-hunters to make rash and emotional decisions on the fate of the hunt. Check out the poll here:

http://www.mytelus.com/new_homepage/

As usual the poll provides no necessity for a ban...such as declining population etc...........just a seat-o-the-pants question. The majority of the respondents having no knowledge of the health of the population or could even identify a grizzly if one chewed their leg off. Not many Grizzlies spotted around Jane and Finch recently...

[dick195252]

They should of Fined him the FULL $250,000.00

[Sandman]

"The incident was not reported to any authorities and it was approximately 18 hours before park officials were able to put the bear down safely".

I like to see the poacher suffer more than 11 K................

[bmet]

For all you bear hunters; do you eat the meat or do you kill for the thrill and for the trophy. I don't believe in trophy hunting, I think if you are going to kill something you should eat it. Just my opinion.

[ehntr]

For all you bear hunters; do you eat the meat or do you kill for the thrill and for the trophy. I don't believe in trophy hunting, I think if you are going to kill something you should eat it. Just my opinion.

Some do some don't. There are laws that protect a hunters right-to-hunt and laws to protect hunters from harassment by non-hunters. On opinions.....everybody has one.....yours casts judgement. In my neck-o-the-woods the meat of the bear is secondary to it's hide. It is unlawful to allow the hide to be wasted, destroyed, spoiled or abandoned. It has been my observation that the larger an animal is, the more emotion attached to it.............prairie dogs are killed by the thousands sans a whimper (nobody I know eats these), foxes, coyotes, wolves (now the emotion starts to sink in), cougars, bears.........elephants (this one brings the house down despite the fact that an elephant will feed hundreds). I guess it's the size that matters........thats not logical but thats how I view the inner clock-work of anti-hunters. Non-hunters aren't necessarily plagued to the same extent or the same notions as anti-hunters. It is the non-hunters that we must be defining ourselves too. I accept your comment if you are a hunter and you choose not to hunt bear for any reason ......but it's not right to impose your rationalization of the bear hunt upon others who choose to do something different (be it legal). Thats my opinion.

[bmet]

ehntr
Where in my comment do you find that I tried to impose anything or cast judgement about a bear hunt on anybody. All I did was to say I don't believe in trophy hunting of any kind be it bear, elephant or deer. Prairie dogs are killed by ranchers to keep from having their animals break legs
from the holes, foxs and coyotes are killed because they kill the young deer, I don't have a problem with that. I just don't think killing something for the fun of it is a sport. By the way I'm not an anti hunter or non-hunter, I haven't been active in a long while but am getting back into it for the food. I think in my life time if you don't have a means to put food on your table other than the market you are going to be in trouble. If I hurt anyones feelings it wasn't intentional.

[ehntr]

hello bmet. We don't know where each other is coming from so I shot a cannon across the bow just to say that hunting is hunting but hunting is a different experience to some than it is to others. Everybody who hunts wants to get something out of it or they wouldn't be doing it.

quote For all you bear hunters; do you eat the meat or do you kill for the thrill and for the trophy. I don't believe in trophy hunting, I think if you are going to kill something you should eat it. Just my opinion. unquote

When you say "if you are going to kill something I think you should eat it" then you have pre-determined what is acceptable and what isn't. Thats all well and good for your own personal behaviour. Lots of hunters have that opinion............and thats fine. But you can't expect to impose that behavior on others......when you used the word "you" I felt you were condemning hide hunters. I was probably over-reacting to your post....have a great weekend......on Trophy Hunting.......I wouldn't describe myself as a trophy hunter.....I don't even like the label myself.

[VixChix]

I don't think I cuold bring myself to eat bear meat... but I'd have no trouble putting down a rug!

[pdislow]

anyone ever spray a little RAID or black flag and not eat the bugs?

[Cariboo]

For all you bear hunters; do you eat the meat or do you kill for the thrill and for the trophy. I don't believe in trophy hunting, I think if you are going to kill something you should eat it. Just my opinion.

No, unlike Black bear Grizzly meat is usually not eaten. The hides must be taken by law and there is always a demand among native artists for grizzly bear femurs.

While I myself have no desire to hunt them I don't for second think the hunt here in BC is wrong in any way. The Grizzly hunt is very closely controlled with most tags being issued on a lottery basis. With over 17000 G-bears in the province the 200 - 300 tags issued each year are not in any way endangering the species. The biologists actually use selective hunting as a tool to manage the over-all health of the bears by directing the hunting into areas where they want to reduce competition between bears.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and if you don't want to participate in a well controlled and sustainable hunt that is your right.

[bmet]

If you are taking the bears to thin them out then that's a reason. I'm just saying in my opinion if you kill just for the sport of it and no other reason other than that it makes your heart pump a little faster, it seems more like a thrill kill. Thast just doesn't seem right to me. I am not condemning anyone who trophy hunts but I have a right to my opinion that it's wrong. I spent 20 in the U.S. Air Force defending your rights, and I will be the first to defend your right to trophy hunt so brothers and sisters kill what you want, how you want because in the end the only one you have to answer to is God, not me nor anyone else. You were right in that I should not have said "you" in my comment, I should have said "I", thanks for the correction, I will keep that in mind in any future posts.

[VixChix]

bmet - nice to see a such a decent response. No attitude, no hackles up, no sulking like so often shows up on other forums. That speaks volumes about your character in my books.

This thread is an example of how people can approach things from different points of view, deal with any misunderstandings, and everyone benefits. Makes me proud to be a member here.