Image Credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
August 31, 2017 - 11:19 AM
KELOWNA – Two men from Kelowna have written letters of apology to the public for illegally killing a female moose out of season two years ago. The pair were also fined thousands of dollars
Randy Cecil Watson and Burc Collins were sentenced in Kelowna on Aug. 11, and took responsibility for an out of season kill near Beaverdell in November 2015. They were caught after Conservation Officers received a tip from the public.
Watson admits he shot and killed the moose and was fined $2,200, given 52 hours of community service and a one year hunting ban.
Collins was fined $1,000 as well as a one year hunting ban for helping kill and retrieve the moose.
Both men chose to write letters of apology to the public for the crime instead of forfeiting their hunting rifles.
The letters are almost identical with both men calling the decision “wrong” and instigated by the high price of meat.
“We provided false information to the investigation Conservation Officers and in doing so obstructed them which we were charged and sentenced for,” Collins writes. “I had to live with this hanging over me like a cloud while the process for punishment loomed over me for almost two years.”
Watson says virtually the same thing and both close with an apology.
“I apologize to you for my mistake and would like you to know that this will never happen again. Lesson learned,” Watson writes. “I have let down my friends, my family and all other hunters in our great province and am truly sorry.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw or call 250-718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2017