Below is a Facebook post from the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service. For 2023, Fiocchi partnered with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to increase the visibility of poaching incidents in an effort to reduce poaching.
A Vancouver Island man received a $5,100 penalty and 2-year hunting ban for unlawfully harvesting a Roosevelt elk.
Kyle Watson-Harley pleaded guilty to killing wildlife not in open season. There is no open hunting season for Roosevelt elk on Vancouver Island, due to conservation concerns, however there is an annual LEH draw.
The incident took place in 2019 in the Copper Canyon area, near Chemainus. The elk meat, which officers seized, was donated to the Stz’uminus First Nation near Ladysmith.
The COS hopes this conviction will help deter others from similar activities. The majority of the penalty will go towards the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
Conservation Officers received a tip which resulted in the investigation and conviction. Please report incidents of poaching to the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) hotline at 1-877-952-7277
(Photo credit: B.C. Conservation Officer Service)