Three plead guilty after heron shooting

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Three Calgary men were fined and their hunting privileges suspended after pleading guilty to shooting a great blue heron in Rocky View County last summer.

It is illegal to hunt or possess great blue heron, as they are a protected species.

On Aug. 10, 2020, two birders at the Rocky View County administrative building heard a gunshot from around Highway 566 to the south. They saw a male subject, later identified as Benny Yee, walk into a pond on the property and pick up a great blue heron from the middle of the pond. Yee then passed the heron to another person, Jia Wei Liang, who took the bird and put it a vehicle, driven by a third male, Jia You Liang.

The two birders were able to film the individuals and called the Report-A-Poacher line. Provincial Fish and Wildlife officers were able to identify the suspects from images of their vehicle license plate. 

The three pled guilty to the unlawful possession of a great blue heron on March 30, according to Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement. Yee was issued a $2,500 fine and had his recreation hunting privileges suspended for two years. The other two suspects were issued $1,500 fines and received two-year hunting suspensions.

The three individuals were already in the middle of a three-year recreational fishing suspension from an event in 2019. They are now ineligible to hunt or fish until 2023.