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Eleven charged in 'demented' US wildlife poaching ring

Hunters believed to have killed seven bobcats, four cougars, five bear, 35 deer and one silver grey squirrel in Oregon alone

Emily Shugerman
New York
Friday 18 May 2018 13:57 BST
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Eleven people have been charged in Oregon with poaching-related crimes
Eleven people have been charged in Oregon with poaching-related crimes

The case began with a headless deer.

Prosecutors in Oregon charged 11 people with misdemeanour wildlife violations this week, in what local authorities called one of the biggest and most complex poaching cases they’d ever seen. Authorities believe the suspects are part of an illegal poaching ring that spanned two state and multiple years.

Craig Gunderson, a senior trooper who spent more than a year investigating the case, told the Seattle Times that the investigation started when troopers noticed deer showing up "minus their heads” towards the end of the hunting season.

To catch the deer-hunters in the act, Oregon State Patrol Officers put up game cameras in the area, according to the Times. The cameras caught glimpses of people pulling into the woods in a truck, shining a spotlight, and brandishing rifles.

Oregon troopers recognised the truck days later and pulled it over. They confiscated the suspects’ cell phones, which were allegedly filled with photos, videos, and texts about the hunt.

WWF Christmas advert tugs on heart strings when an elephant looks poachers in the eye

Officials followed that evidence to more than 20 kill sites in neighbouring Washington state, and eventually to the suspects’ homes, where they allegedly found 20 deers’ heads.

“I consider it a killing spree,” Mike Cenci of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife told KPTV, referring to 10 suspects who were charged in one Washington county.

“I’m completely disgusted," he added. "These people are wholesale natural resource murderers.”

In addition to the 10 people charged in Cowlitz County, Washington, eight were charged in Skamania County. More charges have also been filed in other jurisdictions across the state.

Meanwhile, in Oregon, authorities continued tracking down leads and filing charges where they could. But authorities said most of the crimes occurred in Wasco County, where prosecutors were finally able to file charges this week.

“The scope of what we can prove and what actually happened, there’s a real gap there,” Mr Gunderson said. “We’ll never have the whole story, but the stuff we can prove is pretty gross.”

The nearly 115 charges include unlawful taking or possession of wildlife, waste of wildlife, hunting with an artificial light, use of dogs or bait to hunt, aiding or sharing in a wildlife violation, and altering, borrowing or loaning a license, tag or permit.

The hunters are believed to have killed seven bobcats, four cougars, five bear, 35 deer and one silver grey squirrel in Oregon alone – and laid most of them to waste.

“For some of these people, it was kind of a demented social club,” Mr Gunderson said. “For some, it was about ego and bravado – who could kill the biggest, the most.”

Seventeen people have been implicated in the poaching ring across the two states, and two have pleaded guilty to poaching-related crimes. Investigators say more charges could still be coming in Washington.

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