The man named B.C.’s top hunting guide for 2015 was months later found guilty of illegally hunting a grizzly with bait.

 

In March, Martin Thomas was named by the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. (GOABC) as the recipient of the Leland Award, recognizing “guide professionalism,” at the association’s annual general meeting in Kelowna.

 

Two weeks before the meeting, charges were sworn against Thomas in connection with a bear-hunting incident in September 2012 in northern B.C., according to filings in the Fort Nelson court registry.

 

Thomas was charged with hunting grizzly by placing or using bait, in violation of the Wildlife Act, as well as one count of illegally possessing the dead animal.

 

In June, Thomas was found guilty of using bait to hunt the bear and fined $3,500, at a trial in provincial court in Fort Nelson. He was acquitted on the second charge of possessing the dead grizzly without authorization. He was working as a guide at the time, and was found to be guilty because his American client shot the grizzly, according to the Conservation Officer Service.

 

Thomas was unavailable for comment, because he’s working as a guide in a remote part of the province until October.

 

GOABC executive director Scott Ellis said the charges “came to the attention of the GOABC after he won the award.”

 

The Leland received by Thomas, Ellis said, is “the highest award bestowed on a hunting guide, it’s quite a competition.”

 

Ellis said Thomas is “a longtime guide with a good reputation.”

 

Of the charge, Ellis said: “(It’s) a small distinction, hunting with bait or hunting near bait, in regards to bear hunting. I have some information on this charge, I don’t pretend to have it all.

 

“From what I understand, there was a carcass on the land and he knew it was there ... and I believe his client shot a bear.

 

“We were surprised to hear of the charges. He’s a character guy. The details around what happened there aren’t clear, at least to me, not yet. But I know he would not have placed a carcass,” Ellis said.

 

“Ironically, or coincidentally, he got the Leland Award and charged in the same year.”

 

The file goes back in court Aug. 10, said Criminal Justice Branch spokesman Neil MacKenzie, “to clarify the court’s intention with respect to disposition of the bear involved in the incident, which had been stuffed and mounted.”

 

The mounted grizzly was seized by the conservation service during their probe, and remains in their custody pending next month’s court date.

 

Micah Kneller, a conservation officer in Fort St. John, said: “Any animal that’s harvested unlawfully, we take it seriously.”

 

Different jurisdictions have different rules, Kneller said, and in B.C. it’s legal to hunt black bears and grizzlies, but not when the animal is over bait or near bait.

 

The rules are based on two factors, Kneller said. First, is “the fairness of the chase,” he said, the idea of an ethical and legal pursuit of an animal. Some people, Kneller said, view the use of bait as “not really sporting.”

 

Second, there is a safety element to banning bear-hunting with bait, he said, “to avoid getting bears habituated to garbage and food.”

 

Kneller said, in his experience, most professional guide outfitters in B.C. operate in a legal and ethical manner.

 

In this case, Kneller said, the defendant “was found guilty in a court of law. They intentionally hunted the bear over bait, and they know that they’re not allowed to do that. That’s why we kind of shake our heads at it.”

 

The GOABC Code of Ethics and Standards reads: “A member must be familiar with the Wildlife Act and other related statutes and the regulations enacted there under, and at all times shall be in a good position to advise both employees and customers of their rights and responsibilities while under his jurisdiction.”

 

The hunting of grizzlies in B.C., while legal, is more controversial than other kinds of hunting, Kneller said.

 

The Wilderness Committee is one Canadian group “absolutely opposed” to the grizzly hunt, said Joe Foy, the committee’s national campaign director. “Until such time as we get grizzly-bear hunting banned ... people should follow the rules.”

 

Foy said he isn’t opposed to all hunting, and said in the committee’s work around B.C. they encounter “many communities where that’s what keeps entire families going, the ability to be able to go out and hunt and fish for food.”

 

“But nobody eats grizzly bears,” he said. “It’s a barbaric, stupid sport that one would have thought we would have banned a long, long time ago. It’s not a sport. It’s a blood sport.”

 

B.C.’s guide outfitting industry directly employs more than 2,000 people and generates about $116 million of economic activity each year, according to the GOABC.

 

According to B.C. Stats, about 5,000 non-residents come to B.C. to hunt each year, about 86 per cent of whom are from the U.S.

 

The species licence for a non-resident to hunt for a grizzly in B.C. is $1,030, the most expensive of the 17 categories.

 

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