Two sentenced after moose with babies cut from body found in North Dakota, agency says
The discovery was as mysterious as it was gruesome.
A pregnant moose lay slaughtered with two of her unborn calves cut from her body in a North Dakota field. A necropsy of the pregnant moose later revealed a third fetus inside her body.
Nearby, two more moose cows and two bulls also had been killed in April 2020 in a field near the Canadian border, officials said.
“There’s eight moose that are gone. No meat was taken and the bulls had already dropped their antlers,” North Dakota Game and Fish Department district game warden Jonathan Tofteland told the Minot Daily News last year. “The only thing they did was cut out two of the three calves.”
Tofteland said the slayings “dumbfounded” the wildlife agency, the newspaper reported. Who had killed the moose only to let them rot — and why?
The wildlife agency released flyers with disturbing images of the dead moose and offered a $2,000 reward in May 2020.
About eight months later, Shawn Morin Jr. and Jake Charbonneau were charged with a combined 19 wildlife crimes.
Officials said a poaching hotline for tipsters was “greatly beneficial” in the investigation and rewards will be granted.
Morin told investigators he shot two moose and several days later Charbonneau joined him and they killed three more, officials said.
As they field dressed a moose, cutting an incision in her stomach area, two fetuses fell out of the body and “spooked” them and they left all five behind, officials said.
Morin pleaded guilty to felony exploitation of wildlife, five misdemeanors each of unlawful taking of a big game animal and wanton waste of big game. Charbonneau pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors each of unlawful taking of a big game animal and wanton waste of big game and one count of aiding in taking big game.
Morin was sentenced to 120 days in jail and ordered to pay $5,560 in fines. He lost hunting privileges for three years and will no longer be able to hunt moose, elk or bighorn sheep in North Dakota.
Charbonneau was sentenced to 20 days in jail and ordered to pay $2,360 in fines.
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