In a recent ruling by B.C.’s Environmental Appeal Board (EAB), the interpretation of “hunting” was pivotal in upholding a decision to penalize a wildlife biologist for his actions involving an endangered caribou herd in northern B.C.
Doug Heard, a former provincial government wildlife biologist and adjunct professor at the University of Northern B.C., has dedicated the past decade to the revitalization of an endangered caribou herd at Kennedy Siding, a crucial 223-hectare habitat for threatened woodland caribou southeast of Mackenzie, B.C. His approach to collecting caribou hair for DNA analysis was deemed unlawful.
On November 7, 2024, Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship staff observed Heard on a live webcam utilizing a “cable caster” device to shoot small clamps, known as alligator clips, at a feeding station with the aim of procuring caribou hair for research. Despite having a permit for DNA sampling from hair and fecal pellets, Heard was not authorized to directly extract hair from the animals.
Following the removal of Heard’s permit and his subsequent appeal, the EAB, in a ruling issued on May 7, concluded that his actions indeed constituted illegal hunting under B.C. law. The Wildlife Act defines hunting as the pursuit of animals with the intent of capturing any part, including just hair, regardless of causing harm to the wildlife.
The province contended that permitting Heard’s actions would potentially enable individuals to target and track wildlife as long as their intention was to capture only specific parts of an animal. The Environmental Appeal Board concurred with this argument.
Heard contended that the cable caster was less intrusive compared to his prior methods of obtaining hair samples, such as using a dart gun and a toy crossbow. However, these methods were previously deemed inappropriate uses of his permit in decisions from 2021 and 2022. Heard was eligible to reapply for a wildlife permit as of May 2 but declined to provide a statement regarding the ruling when contacted by CBC News.
