Cochrane Fish and Wildlife Officers are investigating several disturbing incidents of poaching that they discovered on the same weekend in mid-October.

Brendan Cox, Communications Officer for the Enforcement Branch of Fish and Wildlife says officers came across an illegal bear bait site 10 km west of Water Valley on Saturday, October 14th.  The site contained a barrel, attached to a tree, that held food to attract a bear.  

Cox says, "The concern with this one is that baiting is not allowed with resident populations of grizzly bears because grizzlies are classified as a threatened species in Alberta.  There can also be increased safety concerns around baiting grizzly bears,  They can be more defensive if they find a bait site and it can be more dangerous for other people coming to that bait site or for the hunters that laid that bait."  

The very next day after finding the bait station, Cochrane Fish and Wildlife Officers found several animals that were shot.  Cox explains.

"A bull moose, a cow and a calf elk, and two deer were shot and left.  The animals were all at separate locations in a 40 km radius northwest of Cochrane.  For the deer, only the heads were taken and a small portion of the meat was taken from the cow elk.  The rest of these animals was abandoned and that's unlawful in Alberta.  All of the edible flesh of an animal must not be left to waste or be abandoned."

Cox says additionally that the animals were all killed by rifle in an archery only season.  

Cox can't speculate on what the motivation for these illegal actions was.  "If a head is just taken it may be that they were just looking for something they could display.    If they took the meat it may be that they just wanted some parts and not others.  According to the law you must use all of the edible flesh, not just some of it.  It's also possible that someone could have a license and be looking for one species or one male or one female and make a mistake in terms of what they thought they were looking at and leaving that animal afterwards" 

But, Cox says, "The onus is on the hunter to know the regulations and to ensure that they're following them.  Ignorance of the law is not necessarily an excuse."

While Cox says it's unusual for Fish and Wildlife Officers to come across this many incidents on the same weekend, these types of incidents do occur during the hunting season.

"The hunting season is the busiest time for Fish and Wildlife Officers and at any one time they could be investigating several cases."

If caught, the people who took part in these poaching incidents are facing hefty fines and could also face jail time.  The maximum fine is $50,000 and/or one year in jail.

Cox asks anyone who knows something about these incidents to call the Report-A-Poacher line at 1 800 642-3800.  Callers can remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward. 

Cox says, "The more support we receive from people through the Report-A-Poacher program or through talking with our officers and sharing information with them, then that all adds up.  It means officers can be much more effective in combatting poaching activity in Alberta."