Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Mandela
^^^^^good to hear...
http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/regi...hunt-1.2188643
A Moberly Lake man has been ordered to pay $4,500 in fines after illegally killing a stone sheep near Smithers—the head of which has allegedly been stolen.
Last week, a judge in Dawson Creek Provincial Court convicted Jordan Patrick Garbitt of hunting without a valid limited entry hunting authorization in Spatsizi Provincial Park in 2012.
He was also ordered to turn over a wall mount made of the animal's horns and skull—worth nearly $20,000. However, he now claims the ram's head been stolen.
The conviction concludes a two-year investigation into Garbitt, who the Conservation Officer Service learned of though its public complaints line.
Photo Courtesy BC Conservation Officer Service
Garbitt claimed he took the animal on Treaty 8 territory, where member First Nations people are allowed to hunt with few restrictions.
However, Conservation Officers (COs) found the animal was taken in Spatsizi Provincial Park based on a pin embedded by a wildlife biologist during a compulsory inspection of the animal's body. The park is the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nations, and is not Treaty 8 territory.
"Sheep are one of those species in the province that biologists are very closely managing the harvest," said Conservation Officer Kevin Nixon. "All sheep in North America are permanenty marked with this pin, just to keep an eye on sale and trafficiking after they're harvested."
Nixon said officers are skeptical of Garbitt's explanation of the missing sheep's head. COs have since reported it to the RCMP as stolen, meaning Garbitt could be charged with theft if it's spotted again on his wall.
Nixon said the head is worth tens of thousands of dollars.
"Sheep are very hard to come by, a big, big ram like this," he said. "To a guide outfitter, it's a $20,000 to $30,000 hunt they could sell."
Garbitt was allegedly hunting in the Coldfish Lake area of the park with two companions in September 2012.
He has been barred from hunting anywhere outside Treaty 8 territory for one year, and was ordered to pay $3,500 to the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, and another $1,000 in fines.
reporter@dcdn.ca
- See more at: http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/regi....7bdEJAFn.dpuf
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Mandela
Nice to see the charges.. nice looking ram