Wireless snare puts poachers on notice

Game wardens across the country say mobile phones – and the sportsmen who use them – are the next best thing to catching a poacher kneeling beside a steaming gut pile.

Wildlife agents in far-eastern Washington made 703 arrests in the fall of 2004, up from 545 during the same period in 2003 when they had more officers in the field.

“The difference is that sportsmen are eager to use their cell phones to report poachers and we’re getting critical information when it’s fresh in their minds, or even while the incident is happening,” says Mike Whorton, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regional enforcement manager.

One Oregon trooper estimated that 75 to 80 percent of the state’s wildlife cases nowadays are initiated by cell phone calls, from farm fields to fishing harbors.

“Cell phone users are calling us immediately, even from their duck blinds, when they see somebody shoot a protected species,” said Steve Dermand, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “Efficiency and timeliness help officers spend less time putting cases together.”

Arkansas reported 4,200 calls on the state’s poaching tip line in November, a spike of 700 calls from the same period in 2003. The increase is attributable to wireless companies that started offering special quick-dial connections to the poaching hotline last year, said Game and Fish Department spokesman Keith Stevens.

Some wireless companies also offer quick-dial service to wildlife agency hotlines in states such as Colorado, Florida, and Georgia.

Utah agents reported annual arrest rate increases of 20 percent for each of the last four years since wireless customers could simply dial *DEER to report a wildlife crime.