Two B.C. men facing charges in moose stunt
Conservation officers have charged two people after videos surfaced of boaters following a moose on a northern B.C. lake and trying to leap onto the animal’s back.
In a video of the one successful attempt made, the moose seems to groan when a man lands on its back and hangs on, riding along with a fist raised triumphantly.
“I’ve never seen something so awesome!” says one man on the boat.
The video surfaced on Facebook a year ago, instantly sparking condemnation from many animal lovers and the hunting community — and now charges under the province’s Wildlife Act.
“It was very disturbing to see the stress level of the moose, with the males laughing and enjoying themselves,” said conservation officer Andrew Riddell, who investigated the case.
“They’re very fortunate that moose didn’t turn around and defend itself,” he said. “They’re very large animals, and they’re full of muscle.”
An adult moose can stand up to two metres at the shoulder and weigh more than 800 kg.
Jaysun Pinkerton and Bradley Crook of Fort St. John, B.C., have been charged under the province’s Wildlife Act with harassing wildlife with a boat, attempting to capture wildlife, and hunting big game that is swimming — a banned practice because it doesn’t allow for a fair hunt.
They are facing up to $100,000 fines for each charge and up to a year in jail. But as first-time offenders, Riddell doesn’t expect such stiff penalties. The lake, nestled in the Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, is fairly shallow and often used by elk and moose as a crossing point, Riddell said.
“It’s quite tiresome for them to go through that deep of water alone, just trying to walk through it. Then being chased by humans and the big loud boat, the stress level at that point is very concerning for us from a wildlife standpoint,” he said.
Steve Wolfe, a lifelong hunter, spot- ted the video in his Facebook news feed last summer. Though it seemed unreal, he downloaded a copy to forward to the authorities just in case.
“I looked for tell-tale signs of it being fake, but the more I watched it after downloading it I was disgusted,” he said.
“I’ve been hunting, fishing, trapping most of my life. And you don’t do that,” said the 40-year-old. “One of the core principles in the teach- ings of hunting is respect for the animal and the habitat.”
Since he posted the video to his YouTube channel last summer it has racked up two million views and he has fielded calls from reporters throughout the world, including Germany and Australia. He doesn’t want this to be how the world sees Canadians interacting with wildlife.
“This isn’t how a hunter or trapper or somebody who respects the outdoors would interact with wildlife,” he said.
David Jenkins is a B.C. defence attorney who has worked on hundreds of cases involving the Wildlife Act. (He has not been in touch with either defendant in this case.)
He said harassing wildlife is not un- common, but it’s the first time he has seen people jumping on a wild animal. More often harassment cases involve chasing an animal on an ATV or in a truck until they tire out, he said.
“I never did consider it terribly egregious in terms of the way some of these cases go. But by the same token it would set a bad example if everybody thought they could do this,” he said.
“I don’t doubt that there probably was some liquor involved and the boys were just out on a lark and probably didn’t intend in any manner shape or form to do harm. They just didn’t think about the consequences of what’s clearly a chance opportunity to make your friends laugh.”