Trespassers on ATVs are becoming more and more of a nuisance at local ranches, as gates are left open allowing valuable cattle out onto the highways.
100 Mile Ranch manager Greg Messner says he captured an incident on video during which two people opened a gate, entered the property beside a “No Trespassing” sign, and then drove into the private ranch property without closing the gate.
This led to hundreds of cattle getting out onto the busy Canim-Hendrix Lake Road, he adds.
“Not only are they breaking the law, they are endangering people's lives.”
Losses in cattle hit the ranchers hard too, and while beef is expensive for anybody, he adds it can be valuable breeding stock at risk in the traffic.
Messner explains a motion-activated video surveillance camera has been placed in various locations around the ranch occasionally during the past three years.
It happened to be in the right place at the right time on Dec. 2 when the recent trespassers led to cattle escaping onto the relatively high-speed, high-traffic secondary highway, so Messner contacted the RCMP.
“I've got lots of pictures of people trespassing through the ranch and leaving gates open, but these two at the beginning of [December] blatantly went through the gate and didn't have any concern for the cattle inside.
“How hard is it to close the gate?
Section 19 of the BC Livestock Act makes it a criminal offence to knowingly leave a gate
open where livestock can get onto a road, he notes.
The ATVs often disturb cow-and-calve pairs, or open gates that separate the bulls from the cows and the yearlings from the older cows, Messner says, adding he doesn't want purebred cattle getting in with mixed breeds.
“We'd hope that if they don't have the decency to not trespass, they'd at least have the decency to close the gate.”
He explains the ranch has “No Trespassing” and “Close the Gate” signs at each gate, to caution both illegal and legitimate fence crossers.
The ranch manager adds he has nothing against people riding ATVs, except on the 100 Mile Ranch.
“Some irrigation pipe has been driven over by some vehicles in the past couple of years, and we've had a side-by-side stolen from the ranch a few years ago, so we're really having a zero-tolerance policy for people on ATVs going through the ranch.”
The camera takes more clear images in the daytime, but these drivers caught in its night-mode appear to be male, Messner notes, with one silver-coloured ATV that is possibly a 2007 to 2009 Arctic Cat, and the other a smaller, sport ATV.
100 Mile House RCMP Sgt. Don McLean confirms the incident is under investigation.
Messner is offering a reward for anyone providing information leading to charges, either by calling 100 Mile RCMP (File #2012-3740) at 250-395-2456, Messner at 250-395-2855 or the CrimeStoppers anonymous tip line (which also offers rewards) at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).