A recent ruling from B.C.’s Environmental Appeal Board has brought the definition of “hunting” into question, as it upheld a decision to penalize a wildlife biologist for his actions towards 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 ten years to the restoration of an endangered caribou herd at Kennedy Siding, a vital 223-hectare habitat southeast of Mackenzie, B.C. His approach to gathering caribou hair for DNA analysis was deemed unlawful.
On November 7, 2024, Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship personnel observed Heard using a device referred to as a “cable caster” on a live webcam at a feeding station, aiming to collect caribou hair for research. Although Heard possessed a permit for obtaining DNA samples from hair and fecal matter, he was not permitted to directly extract hair from the animals.
Following the removal of his permit, Heard appealed the decision. In a ruling released on May 7, the EAB concluded that his actions constituted illegal hunting under B.C. law. The Wildlife Act defines hunting as the pursuit of animals with the intent to capture any part of them, including hair, regardless of whether the animal is harmed or captured.
The province contended that allowing Heard’s actions to go unpunished would set a precedent where individuals could target and track wildlife as long as they aimed to capture only specific parts of the animals. The Environmental Appeal Board supported this argument, stating that Heard’s permit allowed for opportunistic collection of samples in a restricted hunting area.
Heard claimed that using the cable caster was less intrusive than his previous methods, such as using a dart gun and toy crossbow, which had been deemed inappropriate in prior board decisions. He was granted the option to reapply for a wildlife permit starting May 2 but chose not to comment on the verdict when contacted by CBC News.