Pair fined $3,000 for illegal trapping

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 tollfree or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.