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TN Residents Plead Guilty To Wild Boar Charges
Posted on December 03, 2012
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency announced last week that a pair of guilty pleas have been made in cases involving the illegal possession, transportation and stocking of wild hogs in Moore and Lewis counties of Middle Tennessee. Dr. Stacy Smith, a veterinarian from Lynchburg, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of illegal possession of wildlife and several other offenses directly related to wild hogs. He was forced to pay $4,944 in fines and court costs.
Timothy Chapman, of Mt. Pleasant, pleaded guilty to seven counts of illegal possession of wildlife and received fines and courts costs totaling $1,654. He also lost his hunting and trapping privileges for one year.
The cases are part of a growing effort in Tennessee to prevent wild hogs from showing up in areas where they haven't been common in the past.
Wild hogs cause extensive damage to agricultural property and wildlife habitat, and they carry many diseases that can be harmful to livestock, native wildlife and even humans.
Conservation officials believe wild hogs have been spreading rapidly across the state, partly because some hunters have been releasing them into new areas to give themselves an extra animal species to hunt.
It is illegal in Tennessee to possess wild hogs or to kill them while hunting other legal species without first obtaining special take permits from the state.
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