A man has been fined $1000 and disqualified from holding a gaming license after he was caught hunting in a forbidden Illawarra location.
The 31-year-old Liverpool man appeared before Wollongong Local Court earlier this month, on charges of obstructing, hindering and impeding a Game Licencing Unit inspector during a compliance operation.
The operation was undertaken in July. The man fled from the inspector when he was found to be in possession of hunting equipment, including a bow, in an area where he didn’t have permission to hunt.
According to the Department of Primary Industries, the man was convicted and banned from holding a license for six months.
Wollongong Local Court ordered that a hunting bow and equipment valued at approximately $2000 – seized at the time of the offence - be forfeited to the Crown.
The court action coincided with a similar case centred around illegal hunting in the Cooma area. A 49-year-old Cooma woman was charged over a compliance operation that took place near Jindabyne in March.
The woman was found with firearms, in a state forest where she did not have permission to hunt. She was this month convicted of not keeping a firearm safe, and possessing a firearm in a state forest.
She was placed on a good behaviour bonds of up to nine months.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries Game Licensing Unit’s Troy Hogarth said the convictions send a clear message to the community that disobeying NSW game hunting regulations would not be tolerated by the courts.
Mr Hogarth said unit’s compliance operations, often assisted by NSW Police and Forestry Corporation of NSW, were aimed at ensuring safe, legal and ethical hunting.
“The community is very helpful when it comes to reporting illegal hunting through the joint GLU and police program called ‘Shut the Gate on Illegal Hunting,” he said.
Call 1800 SHUT IT to report illegal hunting.
