Illegal grizzly hunting leads to fine, ban for B.C. man [Video]

A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.

In a social media post Friday, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service shared details of an investigation that began in 2020, after the agency got a tip from the public about a man who was using bait to hunt bears in the Elkford area.

BCCOS said their investigation took a full year, but they apprehended Guofeng Li in June 2021 after he was caught shooting a decoy black bear near the bait. Through their investigation, officers determined Li shot and killed a grizzly at that same site and harvested parts from the bear.

“Evidence collected during the year-long investigation, combined with information gathered from search warrants executed on Li’s truck and cell phone, resulted in a successful conviction of killing wildlife not within open season,” the post …