Illegal caribou hunting with snowmobiles and knife costs La Ronge men $18,600 in fines

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Two additional offences for possessing illegally taken wildlife and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal were withdrawn by the Crown.

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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