SASKATOON -
Three young men who filmed themselves gleefully blasting ducks out of a Saskatchewan pond and then posted the video on YouTube were fined thousands of dollars Monday.
David Fraser, James Fraser and Jeremy Rowlands pleaded guilty in a Saskatoon court to breaking several federal and provincial wildlife laws in an incident that sparked widespread public outrage.
The video, which was shown in court, shows the men cheering each other on as at least two of them use rifles to shoot the ducks and ducklings.
Justice Doug Agnew called their actions "stupid, reckless and irresponsible," and fined the Frasers $5,000 each and Rowlands $6,000 and also ordered them to turn over the rifles.
The men stood side by side in court and apologized for their behaviour. Earlier, they had tried to shield their faces as they rushed out of the courthouse.
They pleaded guilty to unlawful hunting, hunting out of season, discharging a firearm from a vehicle and leaving edible game to be wasted.
The maximum penalty is $100,000 for the provincial offences and $300,000 under federal laws, with the possibility of six months jail time.
Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, said even hunters were outraged by the case because what the trio did was both illegal and immoral.
"I was disgusted," he said of his reaction to first seeing the video. "Those birds were moulting at that time. Of course, the young are unable to fly anyway. It's all about the ethics in this situation."
"The hunting fraternity in Saskatchewan and other conservationists really jumped on board. It was great to see so many people focused in on this. The ethical hunting community really took this upon themselves to make this right."
Brian Petrar with Environment Canada said the case really had nothing to do with hunting.
"It was people using birds as target practice," he said outside court.
An investigation was started last week after the video surfaced.
Authorities did not know the location where the shooting happened but suspected it was somewhere in Saskatchewan or Alberta because there was a road sign visible and there were blooming fields of canola in the background.
The video prompted a flood of tips from the public.
