Wait, what?
$99.50.
That’s all is cost 40-year-old Chris Keown to illegally shoot a black bear using his muzzle-loader earlier in the month. Acting on a number of tips from the state’s Operation Game Thief, conservation agents conducted a thorough investigation and gathered pertinent evidence used to charge Keown.
He was eventually cited for pursuing, taking, killing, possessing or disposing of wildlife, a misdemeanor, after agents located the disposed head and hide along with bear meat and paws in a refrigerator.
“We recovered the head and hide, which had been dumped in a creek, and we found the bear’s meat and paws in somebody’s refrigerator,” Protection Division Chief with the Missouri Department of Conservation Larry Yamnitz told the News-Leader. “Our agents did their job.”
It was apparently Keown’s son that eventually persuaded the poacher to confess what he had done to the bear, but after reading more about Missouri’s poaching laws, my guess is Keown took his chances on this one.
According to Yamnitz, Keown had two ways to play this; plead not-guilty to the citation and face possible trial or plead guilty and face the $99.50 set fine outlined in the state’s Conservation Violation Code.
That was easy.
OK. Not that easy.
In addition to the $99.50 fine, he also faced an additional $89.50 in associated costs and $14 in Jefferson County court costs, bringing his grand total to a whopping $203 out-of-pocket for the poacher.
Missouri is becoming something of a haven for poachers, home to some of the weakest poaching punishments, offering little deterrence to emboldened poachers. Since December, some of America’s marquee poaching cases have come out of the state of Missouri including the illegal shooting of two bald eagles and the heinous killing of a bull elk for its antlers, which were severed by the poacher using a chainsaw.
In light of these recent events, a poaching restitution bill has been sponsored by Rep. Linda Black, a Republican, which would tack on an additional $3500 fine for anyone who illegally kills an elk or black bear in the state. Those who illegally kill a turkey would be subject to an additional $750 fine and illegally taking a deer could add $1,500 to the civil penalty a judge might order.
In comparison with other states, these fines are still relatively low compared to the dollar amount attached to certain species in their regions. Poachers in the state of Utah face up to a $30,000 fine for illegally killing a bighorn sheep, $8,000 for an elk or deer and $6,000 for a bison.
The bill is gaining strong support, including an endorsement from the Conservation Federation of Missouri.
“We absolutely are in favor of her bill,” Brandon Butler, executive director of the nonprofit conservation group, which boasts more than 85,000 members told the News-Leader. “The poaching penalties we have now are not enough to deter poaching in Missouri.”