Adam Greentree, a well-known archery hunter from Australia, pleaded guilty to poaching in a criminal trial last week. In yesterday’s sentencing hearing, he walked away without so much as a fine.
In March or April of 2017, Greentree was hunting his 300-acre property which backs up to Towarri National Park. The DPI later found a red deer carcass in the national park and recorded the GPS location. DPI’s Game Compliance Unit compared Greentree’s Instagram photos with the area the carcass was found and determined that Greentree had killed the animal in the National Park.
In April of 2018, DPI interviewed Greentree. He admitted to killing the red stag but claimed he was on his neighbor’s property. However, because he was unable to prove where he was when he took the shot, he was charged with hunting and killing a red deer and possessing a compound bow in a national park.
The court date was scheduled for Septemeber but rescheduled so he could come to the United States to hunt. He finally stood trial for the 2017 incident earlier this month and pleaded guilty to both charges. The maximum penalty allowed is a $3300 fine per offense.
During his sentencing hearing on March 11th, 2019, Magistrate Andrew Eckhold ruled that there should be no conviction. “Even highly skilled hunters make errors,” Eckhold said. He went on to say that while the DPI recognizes red deer as a game animal, they are mostly viewed as a pest. “It must be recognized that the animal that you killed was a feral animal and one that has the potential to cause some harm to the environment”.
In the end, he said that Greentree’s good character and contributions to the community were reason enough to let him off.
As American’s, it’s pretty hard to wrap our minds around poaching in a national park without consequence. Many are calling to his sponsors to take action. Others view this as a cautionary tale about knowing your boundary lines. What do you think? Should there have been a greater punishment for Adam under these circumstances?
