NIPIGON, Ont. — Nipigon district conservation officers are trying to identify who's responsible for killing a moose and leaving it to spoil in the bush off Highway 11, north of Nipigon.
The Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry received a tip about the incident Monday.
Investigating officers found the carcass of a young bull moose a few metres off the Shadow Creek Road near Orient Bay, about 50 kilometres from Nipigon.
The MNDMNRF believes the animal was shot and abandoned sometime between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3.
"This kind of waste is appalling to all ethical hunters," the ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
In an interview, Staff Sergeant Ken Tuuri, the enforcement manager in the Nipigon district, said everyone should be concerned about incidents such as this.
"Moose are highly regulated in the province. We don't give out a lot of tags. We're going through a new system right now....Hunters want all the opportunities they can get to harvest one of these animals," Tuuri told TBNewswatch.
He added that "It's a privilege to be out there hunting for these big-game animals, so any time one is shot and wasted, it affects every hunter out there."
The ministry is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact its Nipigon office at 807-887-5021.
Tips can also be called in anonymously to the ministry TIPS line at 1-877-847-7667, or to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Tuuri would like to hear from witnesses or anyone who may have seen a vehicle heading into or out of the Shadow Creek Road on Sunday.
He said the ministry is also inviting the person or persons responsible to come forward.
"Maybe they would want to call in and speak to us about it, explain the situation, what exactly happened, and we can go from there."
