THUNDER BAY – Legal – Two southern Ontario men have pleaded guilty and were fined for illegal wolf hunting offences.
Wayne Stewart of Winchester and Arden Carruthers of Morewood were each fined $700 for wolf hunting without a licence and $200 for abandoning the pelt of a furbearing mammal.
The court heard that on November 22, 2013, a Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer investigated a complaint that a wolf had been illegally shot and abandoned at a hunt camp near Thunder Bay.
The officer contacted Stewart and Carruthers near their hunt camp, by Dog River Road, west of Thunder Bay. The men were later contacted by officers upon returning home, where they admitted to illegally shooting and abandoning a wolf at the hunt camp.
Justice of the Peace Anna Gibbon heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, Thunder Bay, on March 5, 2014.
To hunt wolves or coyotes in specified Wildlife Management Units, a resident must have a wolf/coyote game seal, an Outdoors Card and a small game licence tag. Regulations prohibiting the abandonment or spoilage of furbearing mammal pelts that hold commercial value are in place to protect this resource.
For further information on hunting regulations, please consult the Ontario Hunting Regulations Summary, available at ontario.ca/hunting.
To report a natural resources violation, call 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667) toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
