Hunters venturing out in the Burns Lake area will now need to provide their moose kills for inspection.
According to a recent order under the British Columbia Wildlife Act and hunting regulations, hunters in the region 6-1 to 6-11 hunting moose, would need to get a compulsory inspection done from the provincial inspector. This wildlife inspection is done for proper enforcement and for collecting data on the various species.
“We are gathering information for the wildlife biologist. Burns Lake has always been included but what’s new for Burns Lake this year is there are regions 6-1 to 6-11 where some of those regions are in and around Burns Lake where Moose need to be inspected. So that’s new that Moose need to be inspected from those regions now that didn’t in the past,” said Nathan Voth, one of the inspectors out of the Vanderhoof office
Voth also confirmed that such inspections are only for certain wildlife in certain regions and the information on regulations by regions is available on the provincial website on https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/sports-culture/recreation/fishing-hunting/hunting/regulations-synopsis
Tom Smith, the Smithers area inspector told Lakes District News that these inspections didn’t extend to First Nations, however he said, they did participate in the Environmental Stewardship Initiative that had such data collection projects under it.
The website also mentions that hunters must report the following kills within 30 days following the kill date: Black bear on Haida Gwaii (MU 6-12 & 6-13), Mountain goat, Cougar, Mountain sheep, Caribou, Elk in regions 1 & 2 and MUs 4-08, 4-09, 4-14 to 4-19, 4-27 to 4-33, 4-37, 4-38, 5-2, and 6-4, 6-8 and 6-9, Moose in regions 3 (spike-fork bull under the GOS only), 4 and 8 and Management Units 5-03 to 5-06, 5-10 to 5-14, 6-1 to 6-11, 6-15, 6-17 to 6-30 and 7-51 to 7-53, Lynx in region 4 and Bobcat in region 4. However, compulsory inspectors will not complete the inspection unless all information and the necessary parts are submitted. The compulsory inspectors are also requesting to the hunters that they submit unfrozen wildlife parts.
Burns Lake falls under the Skeena region for the purposes of the hunting inspection according to the provincial map. However, inspection can be done with any inspector according to Voth as often times people travelling from Burns Lake have stopped by for inspection with the office in the past.
“Probably for people in Burns Lake, it would be closer to come to Vanderhoof and get Christina Friedrichsmeier or myself to do the inspection here,” said Voth.
When asked, the ministry representative didn’t share any information on the details around this decision to have moose kills inspected in the 6-1 to 6-11 area and told Lakes District News that “during the election period, all Government of B.C. communications are limited to health and public safety information, as well as statutory requirements.”
Voth explained that these inspections were done every year, for different regions depending on what the biologists need and the need for Moose data from the regions 6-1 to 6-11 is now required by the biologists.
“I think the biologists need more information from that area; in the past, it has only been Moose numbers from the Dease Lake area, or from the Northern part of the province but now they have expanded it to further south,” said Voth.
According to the Conservation Office in Burns Lake, the ministry contracted out the compulsory inspection duties to private contractors. “Unfortunately the CO office in Burns Lake will not be available to inspect animals. The ministry has posted the contract to obtain a compulsory inspector for the Burns Lake area,” wrote Conservation Officer Jeff Palm in an email.
Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar
priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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