Three men from La Ronge, Sask., were charged for their involvement in illegally chasing and killing a woodland caribou, which resulted in fines totalling $18,600.
The incident took place on Russell Lake last spring, with the final suspect sentenced in La Ronge provincial court recently.
Zane Layman pleaded guilty on Jan. 9 to unlawful hunting and using a vehicle to chase wildlife and was banned from hunting for four years with a $14,000 fine.
Two additional offences for possessing illegally taken wildlife and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal were withdrawn by the Crown.
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The other two men, Carter Cossette and Robin Louis Jr., resolved their cases on July 21, 2022.
Cossette pleaded guilty to unlawfully chasing wildlife with a vehicle and got a reduced fine of $1,800.
Louis didn’t appear in court and was found guilty of the same offences. He was fined $2,800.
Both men also received a one-year hunting suspension.
Conservation officers received reports of the incident on April 28, 2022, noting that the investigation led to employees of a local drilling company that was working in the area and was owned by Layman.
Cellphone videos and photos showed two caribou being chased by three snowmobilers for roughly 13 kilometres.
A video showed one caribou falling through the ice, recovering, then being chased to exhaustion, with a man, who was later identified as Layman, killing the animal with a knife.
The government of Saskatchewan said the boreal woodland caribou are a federally listed threatened species.
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