PHOTO
A man has been charged with 55 illegal hunting and related offences following a joint operation in the Riverina and Central West.
The Rural Crime Prevention Team was contacted by NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) on 7 May after receiving reports of alleged illegal hunting on private properties in the Riverina and Central West over a six-month period.
As part of the joint investigation, on 9 July police suspended the firearms license of a 20-year-old man before attending a home in Glenfield Park in Wagga Wagga and seizing a firearm, NSW Police said in a statement issued to media last week.
Police will allege the man entered 12 private properties over a six-month period in Condoblin, Carabost south of Wagga, and Pangee and Bobadah west of Dubbo, where they allege he used dogs to hunt and kill pigs on the properties without the knowledge and permission of the owners.
Rural Crime officers attended a location near Wagga last Wednesday and issued the man with a court attendance notice for 55 offences:
• Enter private land to hunt animal without owner consent (12 counts);
• Enter enclosed agricultural land accompanied by hunting dog (12 counts);
• Contravene condition of game hunting licence (13 counts);
• Hunt game w/o declaration permitting hunting being in force (7 counts);
• Be accompanied by a dog in a nature reserve (4 counts);
• Enter, remain on travelling stock reserve without authority (2 counts);
• Possess, place or use net, trap, snare etc in forestry area (4 counts);
• Kill, hunt, shoot, poison etc animal in forest.
He will appear in Wagga Wagga Local Court on Wednesday, 9 September.