KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — About 16 agencies from the northeast and Canada are convening here to strengthen anti-poaching efforts in the region.
Maine Warden Service Col. Joel Wilkinson says the face of the crime has changed from low-income families poaching for food to sport.
"We're finding it's become somewhat of a social status, somewhat of a bragging right for a number of these individuals who unlawfully poach these animals," he says. "And every time they do that, they take away from a responsible sportsman and sportswoman, and anybody who enjoys viewing that wildlife."
Wilkinson says the most common animals poached in Maine are deer, followed by moose, and that unlawful baiting has become a problem in Maine.
"They're essentially getting an unfair advantage from those folks who are going out and scouting — putting up their blinds, their stands, doing traditional hunting methods — and they're essentially bringing the trophy animals to them and essentially sucking them away from a lawful hunter," he says.
Wilkinson says Operation Game Thief of Maine — a nonprofit organization that partners with the warden service — offers rewards to those who provide information that lead to poaching arrests or prosecution.
Poachers can face mandatory minimums of three days in jail, $1,000 fines and loss of firearms.
