{"id":632709,"date":"2026-04-27T21:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/632709\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T21:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:20:11","slug":"probe-underway-into-waterfowl-poaching-at-point-pelee-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/632709\/","title":{"rendered":"Probe underway into waterfowl poaching at Point Pelee National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Parks Canada is investigating a suspected poaching incident involving waterfowl at Point Pelee National Park.<\/p>\n

They say it happened sometime between 8 p.m. April 23 and 8 a.m. April 24 in the marsh area of the park \u2014 and are looking to hear from anyone who\u2019s aware of a firearm being illegally discharged, or about suspicious people or vehicles. <\/p>\n

\u201cPoaching is a serious offence under the Canada National Parks Act,\u201d the government agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Officials are interested in collecting dashcam footage from the park entrance, marsh boardwalk or Blue Heron day use areas during this period of time.<\/p>\n

\"AA swan nests near the boardwalk at Point Pelee National Park on Apr. 12, 2026. (Larry Strung\/StrungFoto)<\/p>\n

Debra Parker is a regular visitor to Point Pelee and says she believes it was a nesting female swan that was shot, because of photos taken by her good friend, a regular park visitor who observed a dead swan and reported it to park officials. <\/p>\n

“It’s very disturbing,” Parker said, of the possibility of a person with a gun in the park.<\/p>\n

“I hope they find the person that did this … there’s no explanation for it though.”<\/p>\n

Parks Canada would not clarify the type of bird poached when asked by CBC, and did not specify in its notice. <\/p>\n

Melissa Hargreaves lives in Chatham but works in Leamington and frequents the park. <\/p>\n

Hargreaves says she took pictures of the female swan the day before.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was just sitting on her nest peacefully \u2026 pruning herself with like feathers, taking some feathers out,\u201d she said. \u201cThen she got up, spun around, she moved her eggs because you have to spin them to keep them warm. She was really chill, very calm and relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA swan sits on its nest in a marsh area of Point Pelee National Park, Ont., on Apr. 22, 2026. (Melissa Hargreaves\/Mel Harg Photography)<\/p>\n

She calls the poaching \u201cawful\u201d and hopes whoever was responsible gets caught and receives the maximum penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart was broken. It’s so sad to see somebody do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallaceburg resident and photography enthusiast Larry Strung visited the park Apr. 12 and took photos of his own.<\/p>\n

\"AA swan swims in a marsh area near the boardwalk at Point Pelee National Park, Ont., Apr. 12, 2026. (Larry Strung\/StrungFoto)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised to see that the swans had nested to so close to the boardwalk. I was thinking that nesting so close to the boardwalk they\u2019d get disturbed each time people pass by because they\u2019d always remark on the swans \u2026 I never imagined that somebody would cause harm to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir grace, their beauty \u2026 they mate for life \u2026 I don\u2019t know what the male\u2019s going to do now that the female\u2019s been harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn aerial photo of the boardwalk at Point Pelee National Park on Apr. 12, 2026. (Larry Strung\/StrungFoto)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-632709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}