Illegal hunting prosecutions plummet while poaching tips soar, AUPE president warns
EDMONTON – With hunting season now under way, hunters and others concerned about conservation will be disturbed to learn that while tips about poaching in Alberta’s wildlands have more than doubled since 2007-2008, prosecutions have fallen by 80 per cent.
“Alberta appears to be slowly abandoning wildlife protection through gradual underfunding and staff cuts in its fish and wildlife protection programs,” charged Alberta Union of Provincial Employees’ President Guy Smith.
“We have essentially thrown the doors of Alberta wide open to poachers, who can now hunt illegally with impunity in this province,” said Smith.
“The Alberta government needs to take immediate measures to hire new fish and wildlife officers and fund their operations so that they can properly investigate poaching reports, work overtime and travel if necessary, and prosecute the offenders that they catch,” Smith said.
Budget cuts, restrictions on travel and overtime, departmental restructuring, paperwork, management by other departments and population growth have all impacted the ability of members of AUPE’s Local 005, which represents direct government employees who work in natural resources and conservation services, to do their jobs, Smith said.
Figures compiled by the Alberta Conservation Association show that the government’s Report a Poacher Program received 3,624 tips in 2007-2008, resulting in 1,242 charges being laid. Those statistics were in line with tips and prosecutions in previous years.
From 2008-2009, by comparison, while the number of tips had increased more than 50 per cent, the number of prosecutions had fallen to 235.
In 2009-2010, there were 7,509 tips resulting only in 241 charges.
“This isn’t happening because there are fewer poachers,” said Smith. “It’s happening because the province isn’t funding an important conservation program and allowing our members to do their jobs.”
Smith noted that Alberta’s neighbour to the south, the State of Montana, has a population of 975,000 and covers 381,000 square kilometers compared to Alberta’s 3.7 million people and 662,000 square kilometers. But Montana’s state government employs 110 fish and wildlife officers compared to 137 for all of Alberta.
“This is only one example of the effects of under funding essential public services in Alberta,” Smith concluded.
For more information about this and other serious situations caused by under-funding, contracting out and privatization, please visit www.yourworkingpeople.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Guy Smith, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-265-2294 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)