Fish and Wildlife officers have been kept hopping so far this hunting season, with more than a dozen people charged in the Sundre area since Nov. 1, say officials.“We've been very busy,” said Adam Mirus, a Sundre-Olds Fish and Wildlife officer. “We've had more than a dozen animals shot and left, right from moose to elk to deer. It's all been illegal activities, such as people using someone else's tag or shooting on roads or on lands they don't have permission to be on.”He estimates that the poaching activity has been equal to the 2011 hunting season in terms of people charged and animals illegally shot.Anyone witnessing poaching incidents or suspicious vehicles in the district is being encouraged to call the Report-A-Poacher number (1-800-642-3800).Although the deer season wraps up at the end of the month, there are elk seasons that go to the end of January and the cougar season that goes into March, he said.Meanwhile, Mirus says he will be looking for public support of a program that provides meat from illegally shot wildlife to needy people in the district.“What we typically do with our seized animals is we take them to our local butchers and those guys cut and wrap them and then we have a list of needy people in the office and once these animals are cut up we call these people and they get a permit from us and then they just pay for the cutting and wrapping of the animal,” he said.“Some of the things we are noticing this year is people aren't able to afford it (cutting and wrapping costs). So we are hoping to approach some of the community groups to see if they are willing to come up with some funding.“If there is anyone out there they can just let us know by calling the (Sundre Fish and Wildlife) office. Maybe we can look at setting up an account so people could donate to help pay for the cutting up. Then we wouldn't have to charge the needy people for that.”Groups or individuals interested in helping out the charity meat program can call the Sundre Fish and Wildlife office at 403-638-3805, he said.The Report-A-Poacher program says 293 poachers were arrested and charged in Alberta in 2011, with the top animals taken being elk, moose, bighorn sheep, grizzly bear, deer and bison. The three most commonly poached birds are bald eagles, geese and owls.
