Hunters dump 142 dead birds, breaking ‘moral and legal’ duty, Canadian group says
The discovery of 142 dead migratory birds on private land in central Canada has prompted an investigation and a search for the hunters responsible.
Saskatoon conservation officers responded Oct. 16 to a report made through the Turn In Poachers and Polluters hotline about the birds, many of them geese, according to an Oct. 18 Facebook post from Sasktip, an antipoaching nonprofit organization in Saskatchewan.
All edible meat on the birds was “left to waste,” the group said, adding that “hunters have a moral and legal obligation to harvest the meat from wildlife they hunt.”
According to Saskatchewan’s 2025-26 hunting regulations, it is unlawful to “waste, destroy, allow to spoil or abandon the edible flesh of a game bird.”
The Saskatoon Wildlife Federation shared the post asking their network for information, stating that “it is a privilege to hunt and should be respected as such.”
“Unfortunately, I would say that it happens all too frequently year to year,” Chris Maier, an inspector with the Conservation Officer Service, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
“It’s disgusting,” Jordan Rowswell, owner of 12 Gauge Outfitting, told the outlet. “It gives every hunter out there a bad name.”
The hunters did not have permission to be on the land where they dumped the birds, the group said.
The Conservation Officer Service is asking for the public’s help in identifying the owner of a truck photographed at the dumping site.
A cash reward of $2,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of the people involved, Sasktip said.
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Hunters dump 142 dead birds, breaking ‘moral and legal’ duty, Canadian group says."
