Hunting ban and $10K penalty for man who killed B.C. grizzly bear

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says a man has been fined $10,000 and banned from hunting for 15 years for illegally killing a grizzly bear near Elkford, B.C., in the Kootenay region of the province.

A decision from a provincial court judge in Fernie, B.C. this week also ordered Guofeng Li's rifle be forfeited, the service said in a social media post.

It said officers launched an investigation in the spring of 2020 after receiving a tip from the public about a man hunting bears using bait near the community of Elkford, which is roughly 85 km east of Cranbrook.

The service said the investigation took a year, but in 2021 conservation officers apprehended Li shooting a decoy black bear at the site where bait had been placed.

Conservation officer Ryan Gordon says that a decoy animal, which is often robotic, is used for "random virtue" testing to see if hunters will break the law — particularly when open season has ended or if they suspect someone is hunting in a restricted area.

"We had an individual that was a suspect at the time and through surveillance methods, we ended up apprehending this individual, shooting our decoy at the bait site," he told CBC News.

The investigation also found Li shot and killed a grizzly bear at the bait site and harvested parts from the animal.

Gordon says that the bear's paws and gallbladder had been taken, and they were able to connect Li to the investigation by performing DNA analysis on a knife that was in his car.

The province imposed a ban on hunting grizzly bears in 2017, and the service says evidence gathered during the investigation led to a successful conviction of killing wildlife when it is not open season. 

"There is no open season for grizzly bears in the province of British Columbia," the conservation service said in a Facebook post. "The majority of the penalty will go to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation to improve wildlife habitat in the Elk Valley."

Gordon says that he hopes the long hunting ban handed out to Li in this case shows that the conservation officer service is willing to prosecute anyone who doesn't follow the rules.

"Even if you're a seasoned hunter, familiarize yourself because there are changes periodically that folks need to be aware of," he said. "If you can go out with someone who's an experienced hunter, that's always good."