After pleading guilty to multiple poaching charges around the state, a hunter from Colorado Springs has been indefinitely barred from hunting in 48 states, including Colorado.
Hearing investigator Steven Cooley of Colorado Parks and Wildlife voted last week to indefinitely revoke hunting rights for Iniki Vike Kapu, 28, after he pleaded guilty.
Iniki Vike Kapu
Since Colorado is a member of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, the lifelong hunting ban applies to all other 47 member states except Hawaii and Massachusetts.
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Criminal Poaching Case
a line of deer heads from animals poached by Inike Vike Kapu
He is accused of slaughtering 12 deers, two turkeys, and a bighorn sheep ram in three Colorado counties.
In May of this year, Kapu pled guilty to unlawful wildlife possession and was fined $900 in Chaffee County. He later pled guilty in Teller County in December 2019 and Fremont County in February 2020.
He has confessed to keeping three or four huge game animals in his custody unlawfully. As part of a plea deal, he was fined $4,600 and sentenced to six months in prison and three years of supervised probation in Fremont County, according to prosecutors. He also turned over the arms he used in the poaching mission.
"Mr. Kapu's crimes against animals epitomize what a poacher is all about: capturing wildlife without consideration for the rules that protect it," Cooley said. "Iniki Kapu is known as a significant threat to Colorado's biodiversity, and his abuses are among the most egregious. In this situation, the magnitude and level of indifference to wildlife are unparalleled, and it cannot be tolerated."
Appeal
He did not attend the hearing on his hunting rights, but Parks and Wildlife said he would appeal his suspension. He has 35 days to file an appeal.
It's uncertain if Kapu has hired legal counsel. He was prosecuted by a lawyer from the state public defender's office in his most recent court prosecution, which would not authorize prosecutors to comment on prosecutions.
This should act as a warning to those contemplating poaching in Colorado, according to Frank McGee, an agency wildlife manager in Colorado Springs.
Seriousness of the Consequences
"Colorado Parks and Wildlife pursues someone who unlawfully takes wildlife violently. When you poach, you are cheating from all Colorado residents," he explained. "And your words are an embarrassment to all hunters who obey the rules, pay the license fees that help wildlife conservation, observe hunting seasons, and stick to fair chase principles."
Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact
When law enforcement officials were searching for a way to deal with criminals who violated habitat and resource laws outside of their home state in the 1980s, they came up with the notion of an interstate violator treaty. The first compact papers were drafted separately by Colorado and Nevada. They combined the draft documents and, in 1989, Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon adopted laws to create the official Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact.
Currently, almost all the US states, except for Hawaii and Massachusetts, are now part of the compact.
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