A creepy situation turned out to have a reasonable explanation as a large pile of dead birds found near Ucluelet were remains left by a hunter who’d shot them legally.
Ucluelet local Richard Fadden was riding his bike around the Wyndansea development on Sunday when he came upon a trail on the other side of the highway. Roughly 10 metres into the trail, a short enough distance for the highway to still be visible, he found a pile of what he believed to be seagull carcasses.
Unsure of what to do, Fadden moved some of the remains into three piles on the side of the highway to raise awareness and later reported his find to the Ucluelet RCMP.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service investigated and concluded the birds were snow geese that had been shot and harvested legally.
“The animals were hunted by folks who have the necessary licenses to do so,” CO Sergeant Ben York told the Westerly News on Tuesday adding hunting season for snow geese is currently open.
“We know who harvested them. They were legally harvested by somebody with all the licenses. The only parts that are out there are the non-edible parts.”
He added the birds’ remains were dumped out of sight and in an appropriate area.
“Where the person originally dumped them is not a publicly maintained road or public trail or anything like that so where he originally put them is acceptable to us for putting wild life parts to return them back to the environment,” he said.
“The only reason they’ve now become an issue is because the person who found them chose to haul them out onto the road. We’ve asked that Emcon go and clean up the bits that are on the road. As far as we’re concerned, no violation took place.”
He said Fadden made the right call to report the suspicious discovery to authorities.
“Whenever somebody comes across what they think is a violation of environmental law, we’d like them to contact the Conservation Officer Service hotline at 1-877-952-7277,” he said.