Two men convicted for wildlife violations

Twenty-two year old Jordan Clarke of Terrenceville was recently convicted at Provincial Court in Grand Bank for seven breaches of the Wildlife Act. Mr. Clarke was sentenced to four months and 10 days in jail and prohibited from holding a big game licence for five years.

The charges include unlawfully carrying and possessing a firearm and ammunition, having a loaded firearm in a vehicle, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, hunting big game at night and killing big game without a valid big game licence.

The charges arose from a 10 month undercover investigation in the Terrenceville and Monkstown Road areas on the Burin Peninsula by conservation officers with the Department of Forest Resources and Agrifoods between December 2001 and September 2002.

In a separate investigation, Paul Bonnell of Marystown was also recently convicted in Provincial Court in Grand Bank for illegal possession of big game. Mr. Bonnell was fined $1,000 and prohibited from holding a big game licence for five years. The charge was laid following an investigation by conservation officers in December 2002 which revealed that Mr. Bonnell took possession of two caribou on one big game licence.

Media contact:
          Sonia Glover, Communications, (709) 729-6183
          Roy Payne, Conservation Officer, (709) 466-7439

2003 01 28                                       2:30 p.m.