After a four-year investigation, three individuals are convicted of wildlife trafficking in Alberta. Eva Irene Jennie Potts, Ryan Morley Grandbois-Faulds and Daiy Fay Potts were each convicted of one count of illegally selling moose meat and the three of them netted fines amounting to a combined total of $27,350.
Earlier in the year Edward Joseph L’Hirondelle and Harold Daniel L’Hirondelle pleaded guilty to two charges each of trafficking in wildlife, paying fines of $6,900 and $8,415 respectively. Norman Samuel L’Hirondelle was also convicted on four counts and ordered to pay fines totalling $27,240.
With a total of six convictions to their credit, undercover officers who operated what was known as “Operation Pilgrim II” ran a special investigation between July 2010 and July 2014 after receiving a tip that wild meat was being sold illegally around Lac Ste. Anne.
“The special investigations section of our fish and wildlife enforcement branch has many officers working undercover to identify wildlife traffickers throughout the province. They do this by posing as potential buyers and sellers while interacting with suspected wildlife traffickers,” Brendan Cox, a spokesperson with Alberta Justice told the Edmonton Journal.
In total, officers seized $1,105 in cash and 322 packages of moose and elk meat as a result of the investigation.