Moose-Tag Heartache in Nova Scotia

From the _Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald:

Tuesday’s luckiest winner of a moose-hunting license is now among the more than 10,000 losers in Nova Scotia who won’t hunt this year.

Glen Marchand of Louisdale picked his own name and was declared a winner by provincial Natural Resources Department staff during a public draw in Sydney Forks, but he was told Wednesday that he had actually picked his similarly named neighbor as a winner._
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The two men, who live near each other on Highway 320, were issued different numbers by the government after paying to enter the annual lottery for a chance to win one of 336 licenses to hunt moose in the Cape Breton Highlands.

“I’m pretty distraught,” Mr. Marchand told_ The Chronicle Herald _when he confirmed with Natural Resources staff on Wednesday that he was a loser. “There’s two Glen Marchands, in the same community, with the same address, and it ended up being him. I called them up and told them they have to rectify it.”

During the public event attended by 150 or so hunters in Sydney Forks, government staff announced Mr. Marchand as a winner and media rushed to interview him on his good fortune, given that he was one of the few winners in the room. Neither staff nor Mr. Marchand checked the numbers to confirm he was a bona fide winner.

“The only way to rectify it is to give us a both a chance at this (hunt),” he said. “Everyone knows me. I’m an avid hunter . . . and he’s not a hunter, so what’s the chances of it being him? Today, to be let down, it’s been pretty upsetting. I’m still devastated. I’m not going to be very good for a while. I’m not going to put my name in anymore; many say they won’t because they figured it was me, as well. They see glitches in the system so if it happens to me, it could happen to anybody.

“For the sake of one licence, they could save a lot of heartache,” he said.

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