Danny Dyer says hunting, possession charges 'blown out of proportion'
Shane Fowler | CBC News | Posted: October 21, 2015 8:54 PM | Last Updated: October 21, 2015
Undercover operation by Natural Resources officers for 13 months led to dozens of charges
Two Department of Natural Resources officers went undercover for more than a year prior to the owner of a Plaster Rock outfitting business being charged with various illegal hunting and illegal possession of animal parts offences, CBC News has learned.
Court documents also reveal a detailed and exotic list of the animal parts that were allegedly seized from Lawrence Dyer & Sons Outfitters following the execution of a search warrant.
They include:
- 438 pounds of meat
- 378 bear gall bladders
- an alligator head
- five bear penises displayed on a board
- a walrus penis
- a variety of other deer and moose parts including heads and partial carcasses
Four people associated with the outfitting business and an American man are facing 63 charges alleging they engaged in illegal hunting practices and the illegal possession of animal parts.
Those involved have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled to go to trial in April 2016.
Danny Dyer, the owner of Lawrence Dyer & Sons Outfitters, was asked about the charges Wednesday by CBC News and denied any wrongdoing.
Everything has been blown out of proportion, so unbelievable. - Danny Dyer, owner of Lawrence Dyer & Sons
"Everything has been blown out of proportion, so unbelievable," said Dyer. "It's like I'm recruiting for ISIS or something you know. It's like crazy."
Dyer said the animal parts seized from his business were legal.
"Everything that was there should be there for a hunting lodge," said Dyer. "There was nothing that was illegal."
Dyer acknowledged there were a few bear gall bladders found on the premises, but said the number was nowhere near the 378 detailed in the court documents.
"No, no." Said Dyer. "There were very few, but they're legal to have as an outfitter during a 12 month period."
"The bear penises, about 25-30 years ago we had a client give my dad four bear penises up on a plaque, put them on the office wall," said Dyer. "I guess now they're not legal to have I guess. I don't know why."
Court documents detail undercover action
The province's application to obtain a search warrant indicates two Department of Natural Resources officers went undercover on hunting trips with the owners and operators of Lawrence Dyer & Sons Outfitters between August 15, 2013 and September 2014.
During that time the undercover officers allege Dyer orchestrated a deal to sell a New Brunswick resident hunting licence to an American hunter in exchange for $500 and "a couple of hundred pounds of moose meat."
Dyer denies the charge, but admits there were undercover officers on his hunting trips.
"Yes there was," said Dyer. "I don't know much about it. It was just an entrapment deal through DNR."
It was just an entrapment deal through DNR. - Danny Dyer, owner of Lawrence Dyer & Sons
The application states that on Sept. 27, 2014 both undercover officers witnessed an American hunter shoot and kill a moose on the last day of the season and tagged it with the resident moose licence provided by the undercover officers.
The officers state in the warrant application the moose was registered with DNR in Plaster Rock the following day as if one of the undercover officers had shot it.
The undercover unit then returned with Danny Dyer to the outfitters lodge where the moose was butchered and approximately one quarter of the meat given to the undercover operators with the rest of the moose, along with its antlers, remaining at the lodge.
The officers stated Dyer then paid an undercover officer $500.
Dyer denies that there was ever such a deal.
"Them boys, the undercover, they know what it was all about but stuff got added to it and it all got blowed out of proportion," he said.
Paul Bradley with Public Safety told CBC that because the matter was before the courts no DNR officers would be made available to speak on the case.
The documents conclude by stating on Jan. 7, 2015 Dyer had a phone conversation with one of the undercover officers indicating that he was taking some of that harvested moose meat to the American hunter in West Virginia.
The allegations by Natural Resource officers are contained in documents submitted to the court and have not been proven in a court of law.
Dyer, his wife Kimberly, son Christopher, guide Todd Daye and the American man are scheduled to be in court on April 2016. All five have pleaded not guilty.