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Show Poaching hotline brings 92 arrests during first 9 months Utah citizens have turned in relatives, strangers and friends on a w ide variety of w ildlife violations since the "Help Stop Poaching" hotline 1 1-800-662-3337) was started one year ago. Many of the 156 calls were anonymous. Other callers were willing to testify in court. During the first nine months of the "Help Stop Poaching" line, 92 persons were arrested through hotline tips and $13,000 in fines were levied. A total of $950 in rewards were given to persons offering information leading to the conviction con-viction of a wildlife law violator. Bruce Johnson, coordinator of the "Help Stop Poaching" campagin for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources of the Department of Natural Resources and Energy, says about three-fourths of the cases have involved big game violations. One deer hunter lent his knife to several other hunters, only to discover they were cleaning out an illegally killed kill-ed elk and were putting an unused elk tag on it. The deer hunter got the vehicle vehi-cle description and license plate number and called the "Help Stop Poaching" line. One woman became suspicious when she saw a big cougar in the back of neighbor's truck. In another case, several people were given meat w hich tasted strangely like moose. One person started wondering if moose season w as on or if the generous donar even had a moose permit. Calls to the "Help Stop Poaching" hotline resulted in arrests in each case. |