By INGRID PERITZ
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The moose were stalked by helicopter and run ragged until they were dazed by noise and wind. Then the beasts were picked off by millionaire gunmen as easily as plastic ducks lined up at a carnival booth.
Even in the pitiless world of game poaching, where deer are fatally frozen in headlights or shot for fun from pickup-truck windows, this example of poaching was as brazen as it was brutal, officials say.
Quebec wildlife agents are mounting cases against 19 Quebec residents after a three-year anti-poaching operation.
Poaching crackdowns aren't exceptional in Quebec _ officials announced one this week against about 25 deer and caribou hunters in the Eastern Townships area _ but the operation that allegedly unfolded around a hunting-and-fishing reserve has dismayed even seasoned wildlife agents.
"We're talking about wealthy people," said Renald Roy, director of the regional wildlife protection office. "Most of them are millionaires. It's scandalous. They could just leave the animals alone and spend their money on a beach holiday. But their fun is killing game. It's not hunting. It's bagging a moose to impress their friends."
It can take a law-abiding hunter a week to track and kill a single moose. The North Shore group, apparently short of time but not money, killed 10 moose in three days, officials said. Over the past three years, they bagged 30 in all.
The group faces charges on 70 alleged violations ranging from harassing an animal to hunting without a permit, and could pay a total of $255,000 in fines. Officials seized moose meat from a series of mostly upscale homes across the province last week; agents also seized a $1.5-million helicopter from a company in the town of Alma.
Wildlife officials say they will release the names of the 19 after the file has been transferred to the Quebec Justice Department next month.
The principal shareholder of the hunting reserve says he knows nothing about the alleged poaching and wasn't there at the time.
"I don't hunt," said Bernard Cardinal, a physician who lives on Montreal's West Island. He said he flies his seaplane to the reserve to fish. "I'm shocked by what happened. It isn't right."
The shooting party had a set modus operandi, Roy said. They gathered at the Lac Matonipi hunting-and-fishing outfitting lodge during the fall moose-hunting season, which begins in September. Then, one or two at a time, they headed out by helicopter to scout for moose.
Once one was located, the helicopter would touch down and let the shooter disembark. The helicopter then pursued the animal and, flying low, used gusts from the propeller to drive the animal toward the hunter, Roy said. The noise left the animal confused.
"The moose is practically hypnotized," Roy said. "It didn't stand a chance."
The process went on the same way for three years, officials said. But this year, wildlife officers in camouflage surreptitiously snapped photos of the operation from hideouts in the woods.
"For some, poaching is like a drug," said Paul Legault, a veteran wildlife protection officer and the president of the Quebec wildlife agents' union.
"They see game and they'll start to shake, like an alcoholic. They just have to kill the animal, and they'll just try to skirt the law to avoid getting caught."
Poachers are getting more sophisticated, deploying everything from night-vision glasses to global positioning systems and all-terrain vehicles. What distinguished the North Shore group was their wealth, said Legault, who was familiar with the case.
"We're dealing with millionaire poachers. They didn't have a lot of time, so they used a helicopter. They had the means to speed up their catch."
