Reporting poaching to SOS Poaching – Wildlife Emergency

Poaching and illegal acts against wildlife and wildlife habitat must be reported to SOS Poaching – Wildlife Emergency.

If you witness an illegal act or suspicious activity, do not touch or move anything on the poaching site. 

To help wildlife officers find the offenders, note down:

• The type of activity
• The date and time of the event
• The specific location of the offence
• A description of the individual(s) involved, if possible, such as height, age, hair, clothing, or any other distinguishing features (glasses, tattoo, scar, etc.)
• Information about the vehicle such as plate number, make, year, colour, and any other distinguishing details (damage to the body, fibreglass box, stickers, etc.)

Officers can investigate events that occurred several weeks or months previously. 

However, the more accurate, complete, and up to date your information, the more likely it is that the investigation will be successful.

Please share any information you may have about an alleged act of poaching or a suspicious situation. This information is used to document threats to wildlife and to prioritize actions to counter poaching.

All information provided is confidential.

For inquiries on any other wildlife-related topic, please contact our customer service department.

Detecting violations against wildlife and wildlife habitat involves investigating events observed in the field or reported by the public. This investigative work is the most important part of wildlife protection officers’ work. For it to be successful, reports on illegal acts are essential.

Poaching interferes with sustainable wildlife management. It primarily involves violating hunting, fishing, and trapping regulations. Preventing poaching protects wildlife species as well as their habitats (in French).

If you find a reportable animal that is injured or killed, you must report it. You must also turn over the animal to a wildlife protection officer if requested to do so.

Examples of poaching or illegal acts

Here are some examples of activity you should report during the hunting season:

• Shooting during prohibited periods or at night
• Using lights to detect big game
• A suspicious vehicle driving slowly at night
• Shooting game from a vehicle
• Shooting from the road
• Boasting about killing several deer or other animals
• Registering game on behalf of another
• Killing game for others (multiple kills)
• Selling a species that cannot legally be sold

Examples of reportable activity or evidence during the fishing season include:

• Fishing before the season opens
• Fish viscera near a body of water out of season
• Use of prohibited equipment to catch fish
• Going over the allowable limit
• Selling a prohibited species of fish

Examples of reportable actions against wildlife habitat include:

• Extracting gravel from a river
• Backfilling in a water body
• Laying pipe in a watercouse
• Diverting a watercourse
• Non-compliant construction of a culvert across a watercourse