A Squamish, B.C., hunter found guilty for fatally shooting a therapy dog he mistook for a wolf in 2017 has been fined more than $4,000 and is banned from hunting for four years.
Jordan Jensen was found guilty on Tuesday of two counts under the Wildlife Act: hunting wildlife while not within open season, and hunting without reasonable consideration of the lives, safety or property of others.
The first count brought Jensen a $500 fine, while the second earned him a $2,500 penalty.
He’s also been ordered to pay $1,500 to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
The shooting happened while Valeria Calderoni was walking her dog Kaoru near Lake Lucille between Squamish and Whistler on Sept. 18, 2017.
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Calderoni, who is the founder of the Canine Valley Rehabilitation Centre, said she was with a pack of other dogs from the centre when she heard a gunshot.
“It was so loud my entire body crouched down,” she told Global News shortly after the accident.
“I looked up, I saw that Kaoru had been shot.”
Calderoni said the hunter told her he mistook Kaoru, a white Tamaskan, for a wolf.
Kaoru was a certified therapy dog that Calderoni said was part of the Squamish community. The gentle canine worked with children with autism and people struggling with emotional challenges.
“She helped thousands of people feel happy and relaxed through her many working hours,” Calderoni said.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said Jensen, whose name was not released at the time, cooperated with the investigation.
Lake Lucille is popular with both hunters and the general public. Calderoni said she and the dogs were on a trail that her centre had used before without incident.
Calderoni has called on the provincial government to create a no-hunting zone 400 metres from the highway between Squamish and Whistler.
— With files from Paula Baker, Jon Azpiri and Rumina Daya
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