Two Manitoba outfitters lose licences in conservation probe sparked by black bear hunting

Two Manitoba businesses have had their outfitting licences pulled by the province after a long investigation by the Conservation Officer Service.

The province said Thursday that the probe, which involved Manitoba conservation officials, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife department, and Environment and Climate Change Canada’s enforcement branch, began in 2019 when a hunter returning to the U.S. from Canada was stopped at the border with two black bear hides.

The probe, named Operation Crossing Line, focused on two outfitting companies after it was determined that American hunters often used the outfitters to hunt bears in an illegal area, or to illegally hunt a second bear.

Two U.S. residents have since been charged and fined, and the licences of Royal Elk Outfitting and South Park Outfitters have been pulled.

The two businesses were forced to pay more than $17,000 in damages.

0:46 Former Manitoba RCMP officer accused of illegally hunting a caribou, shooting police car instead