An elk enjoys a meal of long grass in Jasper National Park on Oct. 15, 2012.
Photograph by: John Lucas , Edmonton Journal
From the Calgary Herald, 6 November 2012…… Irish Courts please take note!
EDMONTON (CANADA) – An Edmonton man and woman have been fined $100,000 and banned from any hunting related activities for 25 years after pleading guilty to poaching charges.
Kristopher Brophy, 35, and Michelle Haseloh, 25, pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Stony Plain courtroom to numerous charges under the Wildlife Act.
Brophy was fined $80,000 and Haseloh was fined $20,000. Brophy was also ordered to forfeit his Hummer vehicle because it had been used in the poaching crimes, said Brendan Cox, a spokesman for Alberta Justice.
Brophy and Haseloh were involved in the poaching and trafficking of elk, deer and moose.
They also pleaded guilty to hunting at night, firing at animals from a motor vehicle, hunting out of season and wasting edible meat, Cox said.
“These two aren’t your typical hunters, they are poachers,” Cox said.
Fish and wildlife officers in the major investigations and intelligence unit launched a lengthy and targeted investigation after numerous complaints about illegal hunting in 2010 and 2011.
The investigation covered a wide area of Alberta including Athabasca, Barrhead, Drayton Valley, Edmonton, Evansburg, Stony Plain, Spirit River, Valleyview, Vegreville and Wetaskiwin.
“That’s a lot. It means they’ve been doing this for a long time,” said Martin Sharren, executive vice-president for the Alberta Fish and Game Association.
He said the penalty was “a step in the right direction” but should be higher.
“The penalty has to make an impact. A message has to be sent,” he said. “Wildlife belongs to everybody.”
In other jurisdictions, the couple would be looking at jail time, he said. “This is not hunting. That’s poaching. It’s totally unethical.”
In Alberta, the maximum penalty for illegally selling wildlife is $100,000 in fines or two years in jail. Illegally possessing wildlife can net $50,000 in fines or one year in jail.
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