SACRAMENTO – Supported by hunters and environmentalists alike, Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro’s effort to deter the poaching of valuable big game trophy animals won unanimous support today from the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee.

“The taking of California’s big game using egregiously illegal methods has become a major problem that threatens the wildlife and hunting heritage of this state,” said Chesbro (D-North Coast), author of the Assembly Bill 1162, which seeks to impose significantly increased fines and in some cases jail time on criminals who intentionally poach trophy game for profit. “Big game brings big money on the illegal poaching market. We need to take action now to stop it. This bill attacks the problem by taking the profit out of big-game poaching and putting some of the worst violators behind bars.”

AB 1162 would:

• Raise the maximum civil penalty for each poached animal from the current maximum of $10,000 to $40,000.
• Establish a new criminal penalty for those who intentionally take trophy game – deer, elk, antelope, bighorn sheep or wild turkey –using illegal methods such as artificial light or bait, outside the legal season, or in a manner that wantonly wastes game. The new penalty would be a fine of at least $5,000 up to $40,000 or up to a year in jail, or both.
• Make it illegal to use a signal-emitting device, such as a global positioning system, to assist in the taking of a bear for the purpose of selling or trafficking in bear parts, imposing a fine of ten times the value of the bear parts or $10,000, whichever is greater.
• Authorize the Department of Fish and Game to suspend or permanently revoke the hunting licenses of those convicted of big game trophy poaching or taking a bear using banned signal-emitting devices for commercial purposes and allow the seizure of equipment used to commit the crimes.

AB 1162 also specifies that fines collected for the new criminal violations be deposited in the DFG’s Big Game Management Account for the purpose of big game management and providing public hunting opportunities. Fines for wild turkey poaching would be deposited in the Upland Game Bird Account and used for game bird conservation and public hunting purposes.

“This measure would help ensure poachers pay back the full value of the wildlife they took from the public by increasing fines and other penalties to more accurately reflect the market value of those natural resources,” said Mark Hennelly, vice president of the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, one the state’s largest coalition of hunting and wildlife preservation organizations and AB 1162’s principal sponsor.

“A number of other states where hunting is an important part of the heritage have already adopted laws similar to AB 1162 to protect their trophy and big game animals,” Chesbro added. “These states include New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where hunters, private landowners and local fish and game agencies have embraced making trophy poaching too expensive to pay.”

Earlier this year the Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee unanimously approved AB 1162. The bill’s next stop is the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1162 is also supported by Sierra Club California and the California Fish and Game Wardens’ Association.

Contact:  Andrew Bird, Chesbro communications director, (916) 319-2001