UPDATE: This story has been updated with new information from Oregon State Police Lt. Kurt Marvin.
A 30-year-old Ontario man was charged Wednesday, March 6, in connection to a poaching incident that left a cow moose to waste outside of Ontario in January.
Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife troopers charged Jesus Angel Herrera, Jr., 30, with unlawful take/possession of a cow moose, waste of a game mammal and hunting from or across a highway.
The unlawful take/possession of a cow moose is a felony while the other two charges are misdemeanors.
“It is big case. When someone poaches it is a top priority for our game guys to try to solve it,” said Oregon State Police Lt. Kurt Marvin.
The charges came after fish and game troopers – along with the Oregon State Police SWAT team, the High Desert Task Force, Oregon State Police detectives and the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office – served a search warrant on Herrera’s east Ontario home.
“They had a lot of people doing the actual search just because of the amount of work that needed to be done,” said Marvin.
A resident reported the dead moose in a private field Jan. 16 inside the Beulah Wildlife Management Unit.
The moose may have been part of a small local herd of the animals or wandered into the county from Idaho, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The agency estimated there are about 50 adult moose and calves in the local area.
Moose are not native to Oregon and there is no legal hunting season for the animals.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
Previous coverage:
Poached moose may have belonged to small Malheur County herd
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