Manitoba Sustainable Development advises that four men have been fined thousands of dollars and had their hunting gear and vehicle seized after being caught using a spotlight to hunt at night.
Acting on numerous complaints of night hunting in the Carberry area, 14 conservation officers and the chief constable of the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis police service conducted an aircraft-assisted night patrol in December 2016. At approximately 2:20 a.m. on Dec. 12, a vehicle on a municipal road near Glenboro was seen from the air using a spotlight. The aircraft followed the vehicle and watched as a spotlight was used numerous times to light up a privately owned field in an area very near to private homes.
Officers on the ground moved in and tried to stop the vehicle. The driver refused, then lost control and got stuck in a ditch following a short pursuit. Four men were arrested at the scene.
On Oct. 30, 2017, Joshua Roulette, 25, Joseph Spence, 31, and Baron Kakewash, 44, of Portage la Prairie, and Mitchel Mousseau, 34, of Sandy Bay, pleaded guilty to hunting vertebrate animals at night with lights. They received fines totalling $4,000. In addition, the vehicle, a 1995 Chevrolet Silverado, a rifle and various other pieces of hunting-related equipment seized as part of the investigation were forfeited to the Crown.
Unsafe hunting is extremely dangerous and conservation officers continue working to eliminate illegal night hunting. Anyone with information about illegal activities is asked to call their local Manitoba Sustainable Development office or the Turn in Poachers (TIP) line at 1-800-782-0076.
