A five-year investigation has led to a total of $8,000 in fines for a Toronto-area man and his video production company for the unlawful possession of illegally killed muskox and wood bison.
Thomas Pigeon pleaded guilty and was fined $2,000 for unlawfully possessing in Ontario a wood bison that was killed in the Northwest Territories contrary to the laws of that jurisdiction.
The video production company, Dancing Buffalo Productions Inc., under the direction of Thomas Pigeon, pleaded guilty and was fined $4,000 and $2,000 respectively for unlawfully possessing in Ontario two muskox and one wood bison that were all killed in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories contrary to the laws of those jurisdictions.
In addition to the fines, the taxidermy mounts of the animals and unedited video tapes of the hunting activities were forfeited to the Crown. All offences were contrary to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997.
The court heard that between March 9, 2003, and April 9, 2003, Thomas Pigeon and others hunted muskox in Nunavut Territory and wood bison in the Northwest Territories. The major purpose of these hunting trips was to obtain video footage of hunting activities in order to use the video footage for a Canadian hunting television show that was at the time produced by Dancing Buffalo Productions Inc. As a result, both hunts were extensively recorded by two professional film crews.
With the assistance of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories Departments of Natural Resources and Environment Canada, investigators with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources determined from seized videos that the muskox and wood bison hunts were conducted in violation of the applicable legislation in force at the time of the offences. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut legislation prohibits using a vehicle, motorized toboggan or motorized three-wheeled vehicle to knowingly get within 1.5 km of a muskox or within one km of a wood bison for the purposes of hunting them.
The videos show the defendants being brought to well within 1.5 km of muskox and one km of wood bison by hired guides while being towed in sleds behind snowmobiles. Also, the muskox were herded by the guides using snowmobiles toward Pigeon so that he could more easily select, hunt, shoot and kill the animal of his choosing.
In comparing the commercially produced episodes which are available to the public and were aired on a weekly basis on a national television network, the snowmobiles chasing, herding and controlling the wildlife had been edited from the final production. The final production depicts the hunters as engaged in a fair chase hunt while approaching the animals on foot and then shooting them.
The taxidermy mounts of the animals were possessed in Ontario by the defendants continuously until they were seized by Ontario conservation officers in April 2011.
Justice of the Peace Denis Lee heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, Milton, on May 2, 2014.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act authorizes Ontario investigators to deal with the unlawful possession of fish and wildlife that have been killed, captured, taken, possessed, transported, bought or sold contrary to the laws of another jurisdiction. Subsequent possession in Ontario of such unlawfully obtained fish and wildlife is an offence.
For further information on hunting regulations, please consult the Hunting Regulations Summary available at ontario.ca/hunting.
http://www.thealgomanews.ca/news/nat...nd-wood-bison/
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Originally Posted by r106
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