Police swoop on poachers

EXCLUSIVE: 

Poachers shooting from the road and targeting animals on farmland in the Northern Midlands became the hunted on Wednesday night.

Tasmania Police and Natural Resources and Environment Department rangers combined forces to patrol from the sky and the ground, looking for suspicious activity involving firearms and the illegal killing of domestic and wild animals.

A police helicopter flew with full black-out and utilised thermal imaging and officers with night vision goggles while sweeping areas from Deddington through to Nile and Avoca.

The exercise was cut short when the helicopter was diverted to an emergency in the North-West, however one poacher was spotted and deterred.

Senior Sergeant Michael Gillies of Longford Police, in one of his last acts before retiring from the police force next week, said the operation came on the back of multiple reports of poaching in the region.

“We’re talking about people shooting at deer from public roads, trespassing and killing and stealing livestock – it’s definitely a growing problem of late,” he said.

“There’s been a number of reports so we’ve been conducting these night patrols with the helicopter and multiple police units on the ground, during the past month.

“The anti-poaching operation was aiming to identify and intercept any persons found spotlighting and shooting from public roads.”

Senior Sergeant Gillies said that during the past month a number of shooters had been approached and, while lawful, were spoken to about minor breaches such as unsecured ammunition.

On one occasion a poacher was identified during the special operation and investigations are ongoing with charges expected to be laid.

In September last year Tasmania Police investigated the slaughter and poaching of multiple cows on a farm at Hagley, with the perpetrators cutting wire fencing to get access to cattle, slaughtering two bulls and stealing their meat. 

Earlier in the same year, a farmer discovered a valuable stud bull butchered on his Northern Midlands property having been shot from the Midlands Highway.

The bull had its two back legs and front leg taken off as well as the back straps removed.

Since then, several poaching incidents have occurred across the state and the issue is becoming more concerning for many farmers.

It’s even become a problem in urban areas, with the latest incident being the killing and beheading of a white stag at Prospect Vale, Launceston, last week.

The deer, which had been hand-raised by the Hrycyszyn family after its mother died, was quite tame.

Simon Hyrcyszyn, who owns Richardson’s Harley Davidson and Motorcycle World on the same property where the stag and a herd of about 30 deer were running, said his phone had been running hot from people who were offering up information and kind words in the aftermath.

“There is more of this going on that what most people realise and really, some people are just scumbags,” he said.

“I’ve had people from Longford, Perth and Powranna telling me about similar trophy kills, where they’ve been shot from the road without permits and the bodies left behind.”

Simon, who is a keen hunter himself, said he now has a good idea of who targeted the deer.

“I’m not opposed to hunting – I go to the central highlands myself to shoot wallaby, but this is suburbia, they trespassed and they discharged a firearm within 150m of houses – these people are a risk to the general public and you can’t tell me they know where the bullets go,” he said.

“They just want the head for a trophy and they’ll go to any lengths to get it.”

Agriculture minister Jane Howlett said that there is a Police amendment bill coming into parliament soon designed to strengthen the penalties for anyone trespassing with a gun onto a property.

“We’ve absolutely serious about cracking down hard on this issue,” she said.