Pair fined total of $3,000 for illegal trapping in Havelock
A Havelock man and a Hastings man each plead guilty to using illegal traps and baiting practices after carcasses of deer were used.
[COLOR=#333333]Two men have been fined a total of $3,000 for using illegal traps and baiting practices at a Peterborough County property earlier this year.
[COLOR=#333333]Acting on a tip from the public in March, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry conservation officers launched an investigation and found a bait pile surrounded by suspended cable snares on a property in Havelock, according to a release from the ministry.
[COLOR=#333333]The bait consisted of carcasses of white-tailed deer that were killed in vehicle collisions, the release states, and were brought there by the property owner.
[COLOR=#000000]
[COLOR=#333333]During the investigation, a dog from the ministry's canine unit became entangled in one of the non-relaxing cable snares but was not injured, the release states.
[COLOR=#333333]On Sept. 12 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Peterborough, Brandon Gatien, of Havelock, and Joshua Shannick, of Hastings, were fined a total of $3,000 by justice of the peace Jason Mariasine for trapping-related offences under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.
[COLOR=#333333]Gatien pleaded guilty to unlawfully trapping a fur-bearing mammal without a licence and unlawfully keeping a white-tailed deer carcass without notifying the ministry of the acquisition. He was fined $1,000 for each offence.
[COLOR=#333333]Shannick, who had a trapping licence, pleaded guilty to using a non-relaxing cable restraint in an area of the province where it is prohibited to do so. He was fined $1,000 and the 10 cable snares he used, along with the pelt of a fox he had caught, were permanently seized.
[COLOR=#333333]The use of illegal traps and baiting practices can cause unintended injury to some animals, the ministry advises. Violations can be reported to the ministry's tips line at 1-877-847-7667 toll-free or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
