Cops Probe Shooting Death of Teen in Forest

Published: 

Monday, August 4, 2014

A friend of Kyle Thomas tends to Thunder and Queen, the dogs Thomas went in search of when he was shot dead on Saturday night. PHOTO: ABRAHAM DIAZ

       

Trinidad & Tobago Guardian Newspaper

By: Derek Achong

An 18-year-old boy who could not bear the thought of losing his prized hunting dogs ended up losing his own life after he was shot while searching a forested area in Santa Cruz for his four-legged friends. According to police reports, around 6 pm on Saturday, Kyle Thomas and his 16-year-old friend Anderson Baptiste were walking with his hunting dogs Queen and Thunder in a forested area off Santa Cruz Old Road in Santa Cruz. The dogs reportedly ventured off the path, forcing the teenagers to chase after them. 

Baptiste told police that upon reaching a densely-forested area he was separated from Thomas and he only began looking for him when he heard a gunshot in the distance. When his search proved futile, Baptiste made his way out of the forest and called the police. Officers from the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) led by Sgt Cornelius Samuel responded to the scene and accompanied Baptiste to the forested area to search for his friend. 

After several hours of searching, Thomas’s body was found. Thomas had a gunshot wound below his waist. The two dogs were eventually found and handed over to Thomas’ uncle who assisted him in raising them. Investigators initially believed that Thomas was shot by a trap gun used by illegal poachers but no weapon was found when police searched the blood-stained path used by a wounded Thomas before he collapsed. 

“By all indications it was not a trap gun. We are working on the theory that he stumbled on a marijuana plantation and was shot by a man guarding it,” a source close to the investigation said. No one was arrested up to late yesterday. Speaking with a news team from the T&T Guardian at his Assing Trace, Grand Curacaye Road, San Juan, home, Thomas’ aunt described the former student of San Juan North Secondary School as a avid hunter and outdoorsman. 

“He could go in the bush for days. That was a big part of his life,” his aunt, who asked to remain unidentified said. She said since Environment Minister Ganga Singh had instituted a two-year hunting ban in October, last year, her nephew would occasionally carry the dogs for long walks when they became restless. “He real like to take care of the dogs and they had loved him too,” Thomas’ aunt said. 

Thomas’ friend and fellow hunter, who was at the family’s home and only identified himself as Nathaniel, said the teenager was a loyal friend and skilled hunter. “Those dogs are A-class. That’s one of the few things a hunter willing to die for,” Nathaniel said. Thomas’ body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where an autopsy will be done today.

***

Caiere Chase neither owns nor claims any rights to this news article.

This article has been reproduced here for archival purposes.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

No Lifting Ban On Hunting

Ganga Singh sounds warning:

Hunters have been told that there will be no lifting of the ban on hunting “in the foreseeable future”.

Minister of the Environment and Water Resources Ganga Singh yesterday sounded a warning to hunters that with the Christmas season fast approaching, there will be greater enforcement of the moratorium.

The two-year ban on hunting took effect from October 1 last year.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) in Port of Spain yesterday, Singh said a preliminary report of a survey aimed at determining the status of the country’s wildlife population showed an “alarming” lack of wildlife in protected areas and game sanctuaries.

He said it was for this reason the ban will not be lifted anytime soon.

He said estate police constables at several State companies including Petrotrin, the Chaguaramas Development Authority and the Water and Sewerage Authority have been ensuring the ban was adhered to in their areas.

He said he intends to ensure further enforcement by making estate police officers in State institutions honorary game wardens.

“We know that Christmas is coming and we intend to ensure there is greater compliance,” he said.

Singh said in addition to the two-year moratorium, and to address the “predatory culture in society”, the Office of the Attorney General was currently reviewing the penalties and fines in the Conservation of Wildlife Act in order to amend existing legislation.

“The current fines and penalty regime have done little to deter the illegal activities toward our wildlife resource,” he said.

Before the ban was put in place last year, Singh noted then that a total of 140,557 agouti, deer, lappe, wild hog, armadillo (tattoo), water fowl, alligator and other species were hunted over a three-year period.

Story by: Leah Sorias

Story Created: Sep 25, 2014 at 10:00 PM ECT

Story Updated: Sep 25, 2014 at 10:00 PM ECT 

Copied from Trinidad Express Newspapers

www.trinidadexpress.com

This blog does not own nor does it claim any rights to this article.

This article is reproduced here for archival purposes.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

24 Vehicles Seized in Matura Forest

Let us hope this is a sign of things to come and the government is at last becoming serious about combating squatters and others destroying our forests. 

Gouti in de pumpkin patch.

Agouti turns out to be pest to farmers’ food crops

Had it been open season, it would have been ‘gouti and pumpkin on the plate for some. As it happened, there was only what was left of the pumpkin. The ‘gouti had already eaten its share and disappeared.
This column was called out to cover four such cases over the past week. One in Tabaquite, others in Paria and Lalaja, and this one in Lopinot. 
On the San Juan Estate in the heights of La Pastora, Lopinot, Cyril Cooper has planted fields of mixed species. Besides cocoa, coffee and citrus, he has planted patches of pumpkin and root crops.
In May of this year, he started his pumpkin patch and looked forward to reaping healthy bearings around this time. However this turned out to be the beginning of a series of serious losses for him.
“When I went up the hill to reap at least one pumpkin to cook, I saw the havoc that the agouti had done. This was not just one agouti but quite a few. You could see the big teeth marks where they skinned the pumpkin to get at the seeds.”
Cooper estimates that he lost over one thousand pounds in pumpkin in just one week. His pumpkin patch is now almost totally eaten out. Where the agouti has left remnants of the pumpkin on the ground, water is now collecting in them and hastening the rotting process.
The agouti is an herbivore and one of our most populous species of wild animal. It feeds during the daytime and is considered to be a pest by farmers. Now that there has been a moratorium on hunting, many reports of an agouti invasion are coming in.
Cooper complains that the agouti has not only destroyed his pumpkin, but also his cassava, yam, tania, cush-cush and corn.
“They dig holes and eat out all the cassava. One stool of cassava usually yields about fifteen pounds. They dug out and ate most of the stools. They are eating the head of the yam too. When you look up you see the vine drying down.
The agouti is getting bolder and eating everything. They are attacking the lower cocoa pods on the trees to get at the seeds. They are reaching up at the corn and pulling it down to eat. Corn is one of their favourite foods so what they cannot reach, they cut down the tree to get it. They also destroyed my sweet peppers to get at the seeds.”
Cooper related the story about the chataigne. 
“One morning at about nine o’clock we heard the chataigne fall to the ground. The tree is just about twenty feet away from the house. We left home and came back about five o’clock in the afternoon. When we went to pick up the chataigne, we found that the agouti had eaten the whole thing and as if to add insult to injury, the agouti left only one seed for us. We still keep the seed to remember this incident.
They also eat the breadfruit when it falls to the ground. It is hard for us because now we are not even getting our own food to cook and eat. In all of my 40 plus years on the estate, I have never experienced a situation like this.”
Most farmers in the area are suffering similar losses and Cooper thinks that this is because there is a shortage of food in the forest.
“There is a lack of seeds that our wildlife feeds on. People are cutting down bearing forest trees to plant garden and build houses. The agouti is now behaving worse than the squirrel. Just like the squirrel, the agouti is now also destroying farmers’ crops.
I think that farmers on private lands should call for the agouti to be classified as an agricultural pest just like the squirrel, mongoose and manicou. You put in all your hard labour and you are not getting the returns because of the widespread damage to your crops.
I understand that the animals have to eat too but this is reaching way out of proportion. I think that the Minister of Food Production should meet with the farmers who are facing this situation to work out how best to solve this problem.
What I would like to suggest is that farmers be given some sort of stipend to actually plant seed bearing trees in the forest. This would reverse the present shortage of forest food and stop the invasion of our food crops out here. This would be a win-win solution both for the agouti as well as the farmers.”
Copied from the Trinidad Express Newspaper website: www.trinidadexpress.com

Story by Heather-Dawn Herrera

Story Created: Sep 18, 2014 at 12:24 AM ECT

Story Updated: Sep 18, 2014 at 12:24 AM ECT 

Trinidad Express Newspapers
Caiere Chase claims no rights to or ownership of this article.
Reproduction of this article is for archival purposes.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

IMAGINE THAT: Poacher, Not A Hunter, Kills Endangered Leopard

An unidentified Vladivostok (Yeah, I had to look it up too. It’s in Russia.) man faces up to seven years in prison after poaching a critically endangered Amur leopard.  The Interior Ministry’s Primorye branch announced Thursday that the man was caught when he tried to sell the animal’s pelt.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE