Department of Game, Fish, and Poaching

2008 is already looking like a bad year for game officials and their pursuit of wild animal poachers - but not for any of the traditional reasons. That's because this year it looks they are chasing themselves. Most recently, a ten-year veteran of the Alaska State Board of Game was convicted of illegally killing a moose out of season. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Michael Fleagle pleaded no contest to the charge and has stated that he didn't know that the area outside Fairbanks, Alaska, where he shot a cow moose on January 5th had already been closed to the taking of antlerless animals. The former Board of Game chairman, who in that role helped set hunt seasons and bag limits in Alaska, was slapped with a $500 fine but won't have to worry about missing any hunts later this year. The director of New Mexico's Department of Game and Fish, Bruce Thompson, was almost as fortunate. Earlier this month, a Lincoln County magistrate sentenced the convicted Thompson to 182 days in jail, reports the Associated Press. The same magistrate then turned around and suspended the jail time, placing the director - who illegally shot a deer on private property on November 17th - on unsupervised probation for the duration of the sentence and order him to pay a $500 fine. Thompson, who claims he thought he was on public land, is still awaiting an April 21st trial for the related charge of unlawfully hunting or possessing a protected species.
--Jason Kerkmans