Penalties in Pennsylvania Snow Goose Case Surpass $55K

Penalties in Pennsylvania Snow Goose Case Surpass $55KFrom the Bird Wire:Five have pleaded guilty to combining to take 265 snow geese over the permitted limit. The five people charged with combining to kill 265 snow geese over the permitted limit all have pleaded guilty to charges and together will pay more than $55,000 in fines and replacement costs, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced today.

The last of the five defendants pleaded guilty Monday to all charges he faced, bringing resolution to the case, which stems from an April 1 incident in Marion Township, Berks County.

On that date, Wildlife Conservation Officer Brian Sheetz, along with WCO Dave Brockmeier and Deputy WCO Ed Shutter, received information about a lot of shooting in the area of Church Road in Myerstown.

The officers arrived and found evidence a large number of snow geese had been shot. Through their investigation, it was learned that the five defendants had killed 365 snow geese.

The daily bag limit is 25 snow geese per hunter. And since one of the hunters also didn’t possess the required migratory bird license, he wasn’t permitted to harvest any snow geese. – See more at: http://www.birdingwire.com/releases/348144/#sthash.KRX6l0FB.dpuf

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