SASKATOON — Three young Saskatchewan men were arrested Saturday in connection with a recent YouTube video that showed three males using rifles to shoot ducks on a prairie pond, footage that has caused widespread public outrage.
A spokesman for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment said all three suspects, whose names have not been released, were arrested Saturday morning in a small Saskatoon-area community.
Search warrants were also carried out at two of the individuals’ residences.
Gary Harrison, manager of the department’s special investigations unit, said provincial and federal wildlife officers and the RCMP were also able to pin down the location where the video was shot.
“It’s close to the community that the arrests were made in,” he said.
The accused men, who are all in their early 20s, are to appear in Saskatoon provincial court on Monday to face a variety of charges under provincial and federal wildlife laws.
Harrison won’t speculate on the motive for the shooting. He also said more investigation is needed of the area where the video was shot.
The environment ministry said the content of the video led to a significant number of calls to poacher tip lines in both Saskatchewan and Alberta — a number Harrison calls “unprecedented.”