Alleged rhino poaching kingpin killed

Shonisani TshikalangeReporter17 June 2021 – 21:14Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Leonard Hlathi has confirmed the fatal shooting.
Image: 123RF/Paul Fleet

Alleged rhino poaching kingpin Petros Sidney Mabuza was shot dead in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, on Thursday.ADVERTISEMENT

Mabuza, also known as “Mr Big”, allegedly died on his way to hospital after an apparent hit. Media reports say his Ford Ranger was struck by at least 17 bullets.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Leonard Hlathi has confirmed the fatal shooting.

“I can confirm that a man who was investigated by the Hawks on poaching-related cases was shot and killed at Hazyview today [Thursday] around 1pm,” he said.

In a video doing the rounds on social media, a black car is seen approaching the Ranger, which is parked under the shade of a tree. A few seconds later , men get out of the black vehicle and, it appears, this is when the shooting takes place. The black car soon drives away.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=TimesLIVE&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1405528802998976525&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timeslive.co.za%2Fnews%2Fsouth-africa%2F2021-06-17-alleged-rhino-poaching-kingpin-killed%2F&sessionId=5a8d4181dbeef34e95fe53d84621fc65bf7ba0e8&siteScreenName=TimesLIVE&theme=light&widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&width=550pxhttps://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=TimesLIVE&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1405582841757548545&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timeslive.co.za%2Fnews%2Fsouth-africa%2F2021-06-17-alleged-rhino-poaching-kingpin-killed%2F&sessionId=5a8d4181dbeef34e95fe53d84621fc65bf7ba0e8&siteScreenName=TimesLIVE&theme=light&widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&width=550px

Hlathi called on eyewitnesses to come forward and assist the police.

“This issue happened during the day and people were lingering around. It could be that people saw what happened … They should approach the Hazyview police station with information so we can arrest those who are responsible, because no-one has the right to take the life of another person,” he said.ADVERTISEMENT

Mabuza has been in and out of the courts since 2018 on charges of rhino poaching. He was also facing murder charges.

Anti-poaching activist Jamie Joseph, founder of Saving The Wild, claimed that Mabuza had many people in his pockets, including those in the justice and police sectors.

“I have no doubt the trial would have been sabotaged. There is no political will in SA to save the rhino, but today justice of the street was served,” she said.

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SA’s war against rhino poaching is about to turn radioactiveResearchers in SA and further afield are collaborating to find a safe way to use their chemical weaponNEWS1 week ago394 rhino poached for their horn in SA in 2020 – a decline for the sixth yearSA has seen a marked decline in rhino poaching during 2020, with the killing of rhino declining by 33%, environment, forestry and fisheries minister …NEWS4 months ago

Elephants kill suspected poacher in SA’s Kruger park

Africa Live: Elephants trample poacher to death in SA park – BBC News

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

A suspected poacher has died after being trampled by elephants in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

The South African National Parks (SANParks) on Sunday said the deceased and his two colleagues had been running away from the park’s field rangers “when they ran into a breeding herd of elephants”.

SANParks said the rangers arrested one of the suspects, who told them of their encounter with the elephants. He said he was unsure if his colleagues had escaped.

“The rangers discovered his accomplice badly trampled and who had unfortunately succumbed to his injuries,” the park’s body said in a statement.

“The third suspect is said to have been injured in the eye but continued to flee. A rifle was recovered and the case was referred to police, whom together with the pathology team attended to the scene,” it added.

Kruger National Park executive Gareth Coleman said it was unfortunate that a life had been lost, while congratulating all those involved in the arrests for their “teamwork and dedication”.

In 2019, a suspected rhino poacher was trampled on by an elephant and then eaten by a pride of lions in the park.

$6,150 reward for info on Oregon wolf killer

by ANDREW SELSKY Associated PressSaturday, October 24th 2020

https://kval.com/amp/news/local/6150-reward-for-info-on-oregon-wolf-killer?__twitter_impression=true

{p}Anyone with information regarding the suspect or suspects in this case is asked to contact OSP Sergeant Isaac Cyr through the Turn in Poachers (TIP) hotline at 1-800-452-7888 or *OSP (mobile). (OSP){/p}

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Someone shot a wolf in Oregon, leaving its pack without a breeding male, wildlife officials said on Friday as they announced a $6,150 reward for the shooter.
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“I hope this reward will inspire some citizen to come forward with information leading to the killer,” said Wally Sykes with Northeast Oregon Ecosystems.https://86568d359dcff37de588ac80d6177b3d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html?n=0

The radio-collared black wolf was found dead on a forest service road in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, about one mile east of Eagle Forks campground. It had been shot on or around Sept. 24, according to Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Lt. Tim Schwartz.

The wolf was the breeding male of the Cornucopia Pack in eastern Baker County, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said. He and the breeding female raised three pups last year.

“The future of the Cornucopia pack is now uncertain,” the department said. “When packs lose a breeding adult, the remaining members may stay together or they may disband, opening the territory for other wolves to move in.”

Oregon Wild and Center for Biological Diversity each contributed $2,500 reward money and Northeast Oregon Ecosystems added another $850.

“We are heartbroken to learn of another illegal wolf killing in Oregon,” said Amaroq Weiss, a West Coast wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope someone will come forward quickly with information to solve this case.”ADVERTISEMENThttps://86568d359dcff37de588ac80d6177b3d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html?n=0

As of last April, 22 wolf packs were documented in Oregon, up from 16 in 2018. The number of wolves in the state increased 15% to 158 during that time.

Chimpanzees are being killed by poachers

– researchers like us are on the frontline protecting them October 2, 2019 6.58am EDT

On a sunny day in early August 2019, screams broke the calm of a national park in East Africa. Researchers ran to find Kidman – an adult female chimpanzee – and her child being attacked by the dogs of poachers. In their desperate attempt to save them, the researchers fought off the dogs and removed a spear that poachers had lodged in Kidman’s back. She died shortly after the researchers had arrived, her infant a few days later.

Primatologists around the world were in awe of the researchers’ heroic efforts, but we were also shocked that such a vicious attack could happen on the Ngogo apes of Kibale Forest in Uganda – one of the world’s best-known community of chimpanzees in one of Africa’s most famous national parks.

Less than two months later, tragedy struck again. On September 13, less than 1,000km south of Kibale Forest in the Issa Valley of Tanzania, researchers found another two chimpanzees being attacked by dogs. Kitu, a two-year old infant, was mauled by four dogs while her mother, Kila, fought another six. The Issa chimpanzees live outside of national park boundaries and only became accustomed to human presence in 2018.

The researchers beat the dogs back, killing one and badly wounding the others. By the time the last dog limped away, Kila was bleeding badly and couldn’t stand. Kitu called despondently from a few trees away, but Kila didn’t look in her direction as she sat struggling to breathe.
Eventually she recovered enough to stand and walk through the forest.
Our team decided to stay with Kitu, monitoring the infant chimp, and assumed that Kila would return for her in time. They left her late in the day, with no sign of Kila.
Kila was one of an increasing number of chimpanzees to be killed by poachers. Caroline Fryns/GMERC, Author provided

Like humans, infant chimpanzees nurse through the first years of their lives and rely on their mothers for transport and safety to show them what is safe to eat – and who is an ally and who an enemy. While chimpanzees often adopt orphans in their community, we knew Kitu was too young to survive long without Kila.

The next morning, the team found Kitu not far from where they had left her, having travelled in the same direction as her mother the previous day. She was on the ground and seemed to have slept there – something chimpanzees rarely do when they live around predators. They’ve never been observed doing this at Issa. She could only muster groans, too weak to call. She died a few hours after the researchers found her, less than
24 hours since the dog attack.

Chimpanzees led researchers to a feeding tree four days later, under which lay Kila, dead from her injuries.
Scientists on the frontline

Chimpanzees and their cultures are under threat across Africa. Their forest habitats are being converted to farmland while human-transmitted diseases proliferate and decimate populations.

Chimpanzees are also hunted for the bushmeat trade – likely the single most acute threat to their survival in the wild. At Ngogo and Issa, it’s probable that bushmeat hunters were the culprits.

Combined, these threats have pushed chimpanzees onto the IUCN red list of endangered species. In some parts of Africa, chimpanzee populations have declined by 80% since 1990.

Scientists are often forced into being advocates for the species they study – those who study primates often more so than others, simply because we share so much in common with our evolutionary cousins. To protect chimpanzees from the many threats to their survival, we often risk our own safety. Researchers at Issa advise armed patrols and support these teams when in the forest.

Though we couldn’t save Kitu and Kila, the mere presence of researchers here helps protect chimpanzees. Besides collecting data on them, we monitor the forest for other wildlife, including leopards and antelope.
We keep an eye on threats such as illegal logging and sponsor Tanzanian postgraduate students – the next generation of chimpanzee researchers.
Kitu was only two years old when she died. Protecting future generations of chimpanzees will take a coordinated effort by governments and researchers. Caroline Fryns/GMERC, Author provided

In all this, we work closely with the district government, and the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), a government research body that oversees all research in the country. TAWIRI expends tremendous effort to protect Tanzania’s chimpanzees, recently publishing a national conservation action plan.

We were too late to save Kila and Kitu, but as great ape scientists and conservationists, we’re determined to protect their community. If you would like to help us, please consider contributing to our cause. Our project – GMERC – has a registered non-profit sister group based in California that can receive your support – every dollar, euro, and pound which will go directly to facilitating anti-poaching patrols. Only with increased protection can we minimise the threat imposed by poaching and protect Issa’s chimpanzees.

https://theconversation.com/chimpanzees-are-being-killed-by-poachers-researchers-like-us-are-on-the-frontline-protecting-them-123699

Poacher Loses Hunting Privileges After Killing And Wasting Bear In Colorado

https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/01/poacher-loses-hunting-privileges-after-killing-and-wasting-bear-in-colorado/

By The Associated Press

July 1, 2019

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Robert Stalley, 58, of Pierre, S.D., with the bear he killed then wasted, taking only the head and hide. (Photo courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

A South Dakota man has lost his hunting and fishing privileges for 12 years, was fined $3,400 and had to forfeit his rifle for wasting the meat of a black bear he killed in Colorado in 2017.

The Greeley Tribune reports a Colorado Parks and Wildlife hearing officer sentenced 58-year-old Robert Stalley of Pierre, South Dakota on June 25 after considering the violation and Stalley’s efforts to mislead investigators.

Investigators say Stalley had valid hunting licenses and killed a deer and a bear near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

• Because You Wanted To Know: Does Colorado Have Grizzly Bears? No, We Killed Them

Wildlife Officer Jack Taylor says Stalley took the venison home but only took the head and hide of the bear.

Colorado law requires hunters to prepare all harvested big game for human consumption. Abandoning the meat can bring felony charges. Stalley pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts

Poachers, smugglers steal camera traps in Telangana forests

Instances of such thefts have been reported from erstwhile Warangal, Adilabad and Mahabubnagar districts, all worth a few lakhs of rupees.

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By AuthorBalu Pulipaka  |  Published: 6th May 2019  12:29 am

A forest official setting up a camera trap in Medak district.

Hyderabad: Poachers and wood smugglers in the State have apparently found a way to keep themselves out of the picture that may prove their involvement in a forest crime. Literally.
Off and on, the Forest Department has been losing some of its camera ‘traps’ — cameras that are triggered by a motion sensor or an infra-red beam. These are usually tied to trees with nylon straps.

As per official estimates, the Telangana Forest Department has about 1,600 such camera traps of both kinds. However, data on how many were stolen over the years is not available.
In some cases, according to sources in the department, some of these thefts may have been prompted by fears of being caught on camera.

It is not uncommon for the department staff at the field-level to advertise that camera traps have been installed in the forest and warn people that any illegal activity in the forest would be captured in photographs. While the warnings are well meant, they also serve as triggers for wood smugglers and poachers to locate the cameras, steal and destroy them.

Instances of such thefts have been reported from erstwhile Warangal, Adilabad and Mahabubnagar districts, all worth a few lakhs of rupees. “They are of no use to those who steal them as they cannot be used like conventional cameras. The only purpose of such acts is to eliminate any possible evidence of wrongdoings,” a department official told ‘Telangana Today‘.
Another official from the erstwhile Warangal district said the loss of a camera trap brings its own challenge. “Since we have to account for our equipment, we have to file a complaint with the local police who are reluctant to accept our complaints or act on them because they consider these nuisance cases,” the official said.

“So we have been installing the cameras in the evening, the time around which people leave the forests, and returning to the site and removing them the next morning,” the official added.
An essential go-to item these days for wildlife monitoring and research, camera traps do not come cheap. They cost anywhere from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 and even upwards depending on the speed at which the motion sensor triggers the camera, and image quality and other quality related factors.

It is not just the department that has been a victim of such thefts. Wildlife Conservation Society’s Assistant Director of Conservation Science and a wildlife biologist Imran Siddiqui, told ‘Telangana Today’ his group had lost about a dozen such cameras over the years. “In some cases, people just vandalise and destroy the cameras,” he said.

Though there are ways to protect the cameras, by placing them in metal boxes that are chained to trees with locks, such additional equipment is not widely used in the State yet. These boxes need to be purpose-built as the department has different camera traps of different sizes and types and procuring them would also mean finding resources to do so, sources said.

https://telanganatoday.com/poachers-smugglers-steal-camera-traps-in-telangana-forests

Man charged with trapping, killing domestic cats gets 3 years’ probation

Posted: Dec 03, 2018 01:01 PM CST

https://www.channel3000.com/news/man-charged-with-trapping-killing-domestic-cats-gets-3-years-probation/908436214?fbclid=IwAR3jk1Nhyf_U5HifPrqiMUXKrlnNN4_brPFRsxy63s0lfkwN8GGlbKUMYDA

Posted: Dec 03, 2018 01:01 PM CST

Columbia County Sheriff’s Office

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PORTAGE, Wis. – A Portage man was sentenced to three years of probation after being charged with trapping domestic cats on his property and killing them.

Paul Greiner, 74, pleaded no contest Monday to one count of stalking, and the court found him guilty of that charge, according to court records. Four other counts of stalking and one count of mistreating animals were dismissed.

On March 22, town of Lewiston resident Liz Masterson called the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office to report that she had found the bodies of multiple cats on her property near Anacker Road. She found another dead cat on March 25. Masterson said she found nine cats in total.

Another resident identified the neighborhood the cats went missing from, which helped lead detectives to Greiner. Officers found evidence that indicated Greiner was trapping domestic cats on his property near some bird feeders, officials said. Three of the dead cats have been identified as being domesticated cats from Portage.

Greiner was sentenced Monday  to three years of probation with several stipulations, including not having contact with several neighbors or being on their property, according to court documents. He was also ordered to pay restitution. He is scheduled for a restitution hearing Jan. 11.

 

Dumbest Poachers Ever

https://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gallery/hunting/2009/09/dumbest-poachers-ever

BY J.R. ABSHER SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

17 Comments

Dumb and Dumber

An Oregon poacher and his accomplice were arrested and subsequently charged after they attempted to enter an illegally taken trophy-class blacktail buck in a local grocery store’s big buck contest.

For starters, the numbskulls were unable to produce a valid deer tag to qualify for the contest, initially raising the suspicions of some folks at the Fox Grocery store near Beaver, Oregon. In addition, witnesses also noticed that the buck appeared to have been shot numerous times with a small-caliber firearm–a .22, to be exact.

Further proving that poachers aren’t rocket scientists, when his entry was disallowed, Michael Wert, 32, proudly posed for a photograph with the deer. The snapshot was enough to lead state police officers to a residence, where they arrested Wert and convicted felon Steven Klahn, 40, on multiple charges, including waste of a game mammal, borrowing a deer tag and illegal possession of deer taken with a prohibited weapon.

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Fish Poaching…at the Sheriff’s Pond

There’s no doubt that making poor choices leads to most poaching and game law violations. Take for example a trio of Georgia anglers who recently trespassed to go fishing in a pond without the owner’s permission.

That was only their first mistake.

The pond just happened to be owned by the county sheriff, who doesn’t particularly care much for trespassers.

Then there’s the fact that the pond had been especially stocked by Madison County, Georgia Sheriff Clayton Lowe for a fishing event for underprivileged and disabled youngsters.

As a result, the threesome spent the weekend in the Danielsville jail after they were arrested by state DNR officers for illegally fishing in Lowe’s stocked pond.

Earlier in the spring, Sheriff Lowe stocked the pond with about $1,200 worth of catfish and bream to offer disabled children from the county a fun day of fishing. However, in the interim, the men evidently made multiple trips to the pond, trespassing onto the property with an ATV, and catching the fish intended for the deserving youngsters.

The Associated Press reported that Brian Wallace, 35, of Comer, Ga. and Michael Fricks, 32, and Christopher Wallace, 37, both of Kannapolis, N.C., were released from jail after paying a fine.

In the meantime, the sheriff paid $360 to restock the pond before the children’s fishing day.

“It all worked out. They caught plenty of fish,” said Lowe.

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Don’t Hunt Deer With Cars

The act of purposely chasing down and killing a deer with a motor vehicle cost a Wisconsin teenager more than $2,000, his hunting privileges for three years and 40 hours of community service.

The Fond du Lac Reporter notes that Gregory Haen, 18, was found guilty of the official charge of hunting deer with an illegal firearm (ie, his car). Fond du Lac Circuit Court Judge Richard J. Nuss fined Haen and also ordered a three-year revocation of all licenses issued to the teen by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

According to court records, Haen and two friends were spotlighting on a November night by driving through an open field, when the three saw a several deer. One of the passengers later told authorities that they tried to “run the deer down and struck a doe.”

The car hit a drainage ditch while the three drove from the field, and Haen struck his head on the steering wheel. His injury required stitches, according to the court.

One of Haen’s passengers, who admitted to taking the deer home and processing the meat, was fined $198 for a car-killed-deer violation. The other was fined $198 for hunting deer with an illegal device.

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Gator Grillers Grilled

Rule No. 1: It’s a violation of Florida game regulations to kill an alligator out of season, using a baseball bat and without legal hunting credentials.

Rule No. 2: If you kill a Florida ‘gator out of season, it’s probably not a good idea to serve it at a backyard barbecue.

The Miami Herald reported two Florida Keys men were charged with poaching (that’s the game violation kind of poaching, not the cooking method) in connection with the killing, butchering and subsequent barbecuing of an American alligator.

Authorities report that Timothy B. Goll, 18, of Marathon, and Jordan T. Milo, 20, of Big Pine Key, were charged with a third degree felony.

According to the newspaper account, two teenagers were also believed to be involved in the incident. We assume they were thoroughly “grilled” by Florida Fish and Wildlife agents. (Sorry)

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Litter Leads to Trespassing Poachers

A convenience store surveillance tape and some old-fashioned detective work led to the arrest and conviction of a pair of Wyoming mule deer poachers.

A Cheyenne-area rancher notified Wyoming Game and Fish Department warden Mark Nelson that someone had apparently dragged two deer from his field to a county road. Upon investigating the scene, Nelson found what was determined to be deer blood, as well as beer cans and beef jerky wrappers.

With little more than litter to go on, Nelson went to a local convenience store, where he inquired if anyone had purchased a specific combination of beer and beef jerky the previous afternoon. Not only did a clerk confirm such a purchase, but he also provided surveillance tapes of the customer.

As a result, Frank E. Brennan, 35, of Cheyenne, was charged with wanton destruction of a mule deer, taking a mule deer out of season and being an accessory to each of the charges. His nephew, Adam R. Brennan, 20, was charged with taking a mule deer out of season and also as an accessory to the charge. They were fined $820 each and were ordered to pay restitution to the state.

And remember, don’t be a litterbug!

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Cell Phone, E-mail Nabs Poacher

Here’s a great example of how modern communications can help finger the bad guys who think they can get away with killing deer out of season while trespassing on private property.

Kyle Hall, 22, of Pocatello, Idaho was driving home from Easter dinner with his parents when he spotted a truck slowly moving along the road with its passenger door open. Hall looked in the field and saw a man kneeling on the other side of a fence aiming a gun at a downed mule deer.

“I could see the deer,” Hall told the Idaho State Journal. “Its head was still up at that point. It hadn’t completely dropped.”

Hall used his cell phone camera to take photos of the three men at the scene as well as the license plate on their truck–then he e-mailed the photos and information to Idaho Fish and Game Department authorities, who drove to the scene where they found spent shell casings and blood.

Thanks to Hall’s involvement and quick thinking, a 26-year-old man was charged and subsequently found guilty of killing a mule deer out of season and without a license.

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MySpace Post Leads to Poacher

Agents from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries recently tracked down an Olla, La., teen who allegedly killed three deer in one day–including two spotted fawns–and then posted the photo on a social networking website.

After receiving a complaint about the photo, DWF agents initiated an investigation and questioned Christopher Bearden, 17. The teen allegedly admitted to shooting all three deer on opening day of gun season. He was issued citations for two counts of taking spotted fawns and possessing over the daily limit of deer.

Taking or possessing a spotted fawn carries a fine between $500 to $750, and jail time from 15 to 30 days for each count. Exceeding the limit of deer is punishable by a fine between $250 to $500, or jail time up to 90 days, or both plus court costs. Bearden will also have to pay restitution on the three deer valued at $1,573.62.

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Poaching: Brains Not Required

Meet Billy Ray Herring from Quitman, Texas. Billy’s a game law violator who couldn’t leave well enough alone, so to speak.

On opening day of deer season, Herring shot a massive, 14-point non-typical buck. After the fact, he decided it might be a good idea to purchase a hunting license.

Herring just might have gotten away with his violation if he hadn’t let his ego get the best of him. Instead, he decided to enter his illegally taken deer in more than one East Texas big buck contests, including one sponsored by the Tyler Morning Telegraph newspaper.

When Billy’s buck won the paper’s top prize, the follow-up photo and article about the deer and the hunter prompted at least one concerned citizen to come forward.

A witness told Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens he saw Herring with the buck around 6:45 in the morning, while computer records showed his license was purchased at 8:18 a.m. Herring claimed to contest officials that he killed the deer at 5:10 in the evening.

Herring pleaded guilty to tampering with a government record and was sentenced to two years probation. Fraud charges associated with the buck contests were dropped as part of a plea agreement. Fines, courts costs and restitution exceeded $12,000.

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Internet Bragging Costs Poacher

A decision to brag on an Internet hunting site about taking two bucks on the opening day of West Virginia’s firearms deer season has proven costly to the poacher and his father.

On January 23, several citizens notified the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources that Robert Daniel “Murphy” Kane II, a 26-year old Bridgeport man, posted photographs of himself with two whitetail bucks online, claiming to have shot both deer on opening day. The legal bag limit is one per day.

Under the incriminating message board heading, “Opening Day Bucks,” the braggart violator disclosed details of the two deer kills.

An investigation by Harrison County conservation officers resulted in Kane being charged with five wildlife law violations, including conspiring to violate Chapter 20 of the WV State Code (wildlife laws), failure to field tag a deer, illegal possession of a buck deer, hunting after killing a legally killed deer and exceeding the daily bag limit of buck deer.

Kane pleaded no contest to the charges and was fined $861.50, including a $200 replacement fee for the illegally killed buck. Investigating officers also confiscated Kane’s 10-point rack, which was waiting to be mounted at a taxidermist.

Proving the adage that an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Kane’s father, 53-year-old Robert Daniel Kane was assessed $381 on three charges involving conspiring with his son in game law violations and illegal possession of buck deer.

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Fishing ‘Too Good’

Q: When is the fishing too good?

A: When you get caught with 106 fish over the limit.

Minnesota Conservation Officer Chris Vinton of Detroit Lakes received a Turn-in-Poacher (TIP) call that a group of anglers were fishing for sunfish on Tulaby Lake in northern Becker County and were taking more than 100 fish at a time. (The statewide limit for sunfish is 20 per angler.)

Armed with a vehicle description and other information, Vinton continued checking the lake every other day for several weeks until the group reappeared. Then, joined by another officer, he followed the anglers to a nearby cabin.

After receiving permission to search the cabin, officers found 85 sunfish in buckets and another 61 partially frozen sunfish.

As a result, Jeffrey Meuleners and Donald Gabrelcik were each cited for possessing 53 sunfish over the limit. The citation carries a maximum fine of $1,072, restitution of $265 and a possible penalty of 90 days in jail for each man.

According to a DNR press release, Vinton said, “Both anglers kept commenting that they ‘could not stop’ and ‘the fishing was just too good.'”

Well, they’ll stop now. Under terms of the citation, each will lose his fishing license for three years.

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Poaching ‘Addict’

Some court observers in Great Falls, Montana compared it to their very own “Twinkie Defense,” when a habitual poacher with multiple convictions stood up in District Court and proclaimed that he couldn’t help his behavior, because he was “addicted to wildlife.” The court, in its wisdom, did not agree, and sentenced Gary Motarie, 41, to a five-year stint with the Montana Department of Corrections, three suspended, and ordered him to pay more than $18,000 in fines and restitution.

Motarie’s final conviction, for improper transfer of a hunting license and hunting while his privileges were revoked, is hopefully the last chapter in one of the more bizarre poaching careers in U.S. hunting history.

It was the third felony conviction for Motarie, who agreed earlier to plead guilty to possessing unlawfully-taken wildlife. In exchange for his guilty plea, the state dropped 14 other misdemeanors and declined to label him a persistent felony offender.

“I feel my wildlife addiction is like a drug addict, with drugs,” he informed District Judge Julie Macek while testifying on his own behalf, according to reports in the Great Falls Tribune.

Motarie told the court he was being counseled for his alleged illness, but Deputy Cascade County Attorney Marty Judnich quickly pointed out that the defendant’s therapist flatly refused to testify for him.

“It’s not an addiction, it’s pure greed,” the prosecutor told the court. “He likes poaching. That’s why his counselor’s not here to testify for him.”

A Montana justice of the peace had already revoked Motarie’s hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for life after he was cited for illegal possession of brown trout and using four fishing poles in a one-pole area. Just weeks earlier, Motarie was convicted of hunting during a closed season and illegal possession of a bull elk. For that offense, his hunting and fishing privileges were revoked for a period of 20 years.

Unfortunately, none of it was enough to deter Motarie from further game law violations.

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Bad Influence

A convicted felon prohibited by law from owning firearms or legally hunting didn’t let that stop him from an unusually bone-headed bone attempt in Bay County, Fla. recently.

In the course of a night-time stakeout, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers Dennis Palmer and Mark Clements witnessed a man instruct his girlfriend’s 13-year-old daughter to shoot at an agency’s mechanical deer decoy–twice–while her mother illuminated the fake whitetail with their pickup truck’s headlights.

The FWC Weekly Citations Report did not name the subjects involved in the incident.

According to the FWC, all three were cited for night hunting and road hunting.

Fortunately (for them), being incredibly stupid is not a criminal offense in Florida. Otherwise, additional charges could have been applied in the case.

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Poachers Get Pizza and Citations Delivered

A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden utilized some particularly creative tactics leading to the apprehension of some unsuspecting game law violators.

One early fall day, the unidentified TPWD warden was in the process of observing some illegal dove-hunting activity from a distance while trying to determine how to advance safely and strategically.

About that time, the officer reportedly heard a vehicle approaching from his rear. At first, he thought it was more hunters coming to join the ones he was watching, but he soon realized it was a pizza delivery truck.

With brilliantly deducted insight, the warden stopped the truck and asked the driver if he might be on his way to deliver pizza to a group of dove hunters.

The response was affirmative.

After convincing the driver he needed an assistant for the remainder of his route, the warden was chauffeured directly into the group of unsuspecting game violators, where he politely delivered some supreme hunting citations.

Pepperoni pizza, anyone?

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Poacher Nabbed Twice For Same Sheep

Here’s one you couldn’t make up: A man caught on tape stealing an Alaskan Dall sheep mount from a wildlife agency’s anti-poaching display trailer parked at a hunting expo was the same person who illegally killed the animal several years earlier!

Wade Hanks, 37, agreed to pay $6,000 in fines in a plea that will be held in abeyance for a year.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Hanks, from Mapleton, Utah, was fined $2,000 and had his hunting privileges revoked for two years for shooting the ram and a grizzly illegally in Alaska in 1999. The confiscated grizzly hide was returned to Alaska, while the Dall mount became part of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources traveling “Wall of Shame” display featuring poached wildlife trophies.

Hanks and an accomplice, who also pleaded guilty to theft and burglary charges, swiped the mount after a wildlife division worker stepped away from his booth for a moment during a hunting expo at the Salt Lake City Convention Center. A well-placed security camera recorded the theft, referred to by the deputy district attorney in the case as a “spur-of-the-moment lapse in judgment.”

Hanks’ partner in stupidity, Tyrell Gray, 31, called the duo’s act “embarrassing and humiliating.”

He left out “dumb.”

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A Shocking Arrest

Investigators with the Texas Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks report they recently were made aware of a fish-shocking device offered by a Texas seller on the Web-based commerce site, eBay.

While the device itself is not illegal in Texas, selling one is.

Officers took part in the online process, eventually becoming high bidder and making contact with the seller. Undercover investigators subsequently went to the seller’s Erath County residence, where the seller bragged “about killing 12 ducks after sunset the day before” and gave the breasted ducks to the officers. Additionally, he gave the undercover officers several homemade “fish bombs” with wet fuses and told of his latest invention, a way to shock doves off a highline.

The rather inventive, albeit self-incriminating poacher was arrested and taken to the Erath County Jail.

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There’s little doubt that those who poach wildlife and break game laws are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

1st killed bear wasn’t good enough

• The Chronicle-Journal
• May 17, 2018 Updated May 17, 2018

A Missouri man has been fined $5,500 for shooting a black bear last summer near Red Lake after he had already shot a much smaller bruin and left it to rot.

A provincial investigation determined that during a hunting trip Aug. 15-17 south of Perrault Falls, Crane resident Gregory Evans shot and killed the first bear, but abandoned it because it was a small female.

Evans “abandoned (the first animal) in search of a larger, more impressive bear,” despite possessing a licence to shoot only one, a provincial news release said Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Evans shot a male bear on Aug. 17.

Earlier this month, Evans pleaded guilty in Kenora court to abandoning a black bear and letting it spoil, hunting bear without a licence and making false statement to a conservation officer.

In addition to the fine, Evans was banned from hunting in Ontario for three years.

Crane is a town of about 1,500 people located in the middle of Missouri.

Poacher Gets Unique Sentence, Jailed Only In Hunting Season

 

December 27, 2017 at 12:25 pmFiled Under:Chris Melore, deer hunting, Hunting, Jail Sentence, Local TV, Poaching, talkers

CBS Local — A convicted deer poacher has received a very unique prison sentence in Texas. The man, who pleaded guilty to poaching a white-tailed deer in October, will spend every weekend of hunting season in jail for the next five years.

John Walker Drinnon of Whitesboro was found guilty of killing the 19-point buck while trespassing on private property. The 34-year-old reportedly used a rifle to kill the deer in the archery-only region of Grayson County, which makes the crime a state felony.

Judge Jim Fallon’s unique punishment will keep the deer poacher behind bars each weekend from November through January, according to the state’s hunting schedule. The 15th District Court judge also slapped Drinnon with an $18,048.10 fine; the estimated value of the buck.

Fallon added that the 34-year-old is not allowed to purchase a hunting license during his five-year probation. According to some hunting and outdoor gaming publications, Texas is one of the country’s top destinations for legal hunting of white-tailed deer.

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