Canadian Couple Fined Thousands for Poaching Violations Related to Popular Hunting T.V. Show
Officials investigated Michel and Lynn Beaulieu of the Alpine Carnivore hunting T.V. show for two years before filing charges
Michel Beaulieu is the host of Alpine Carnivore, a hunting show that airs on Canada’s Wild TV and boasts more than 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. Late last week, Beaulieu and his wife Lynn—who appears in the show with him—were found guilty of poaching charges committed in multiple Canadian provinces. According to the Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC), those charges include hunting without a license, hunting in a closed season, and providing false information to wildlife officers, to name a few.
For his charges, Michel Beaulieu will have to pay more $31,000 in fines, the CBC reports, while his wife was issued a $2,000 fine for hunting without a license. “These actions showed a blatant disregard for fish and wildlife laws in B.C. and beyond,” said British Columbia Conservation Officer Kyle Ackles in a Facebook press release. “Unfortunately, cross-border poaching is not an unusual occurrence. This was a complex file that was concluded due to the dedication and co-operation from our officers and colleagues in Alberta. We’d like to thank them for their tireless efforts.”
Over the course of the two-year case, both B.C. and Alberta conservation officers investigated six locations where Beaulieu hunted. They also served and executed search warrants at his home and at his Alpine Carnivore office headquarters—seizing sheep and moose parts, shell casings, and a rifle. In addition to charges of hunting during closed seasons in off-limits wilderness areas, Beaulieu pleaded guilty to allowing his hunting license to be used by his wife, the press release states.
Beaulieu used his Alpine Carnivore Instagram account, which has some 12,000 followers, to apologize and explain the circumstances that led him to commit the violations. “There’s no signs or anything like that … We’re in the middle of a mountain basin and there’s an imaginary line across this basin. You walk over that line, and now you’re inside of a different park that you cannot hunt in,” he said, referencing a bighorn sheep he poached inside a closed wilderness area. “For those people who actually know me, who watch the show, I would really hope that you truly give that a second thought … There’s no reason for me to want to break laws. I have … but none of it was done on purpose.”
Mark Hall is the host of Blood Origins B.C-based Hunter Conservationists Podcast. In a radio interview on the Mike Smyth Show, Hall said that lawful Canadian hunters are up in arms over the Beaulieu’s violations. “It’s hit the hunting community hard,” he said. “For folks that are good hunters, there’s zero tolerance for this sort of stuff. Especially with people who put their hunting adventures on TV.”
Hall pointed out that Beaulieu’s claims that he didn’t understand regulations and Crown Land boundary lines don’t constitute a valid excuse for his actions, particularly in the digital age when maps and regulations are so readily available to hunters. “Everything we do on the land for hunting is [subject to] invisible boundaries,” he said. “We play within these rules, and it’s up to us to know. And if we’re not sure, we simply don’t do it.”
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In addition to their fines, both Michel and Lynn Beaulieu will be banned from hunting in Canada for one year. As of Friday, February 9, Wild TV has removed all Alpine Carnivore content across all of its platforms.
