Animal rights advocates have demanded a charge of animal cruelty be laid against a rural man accused of organizing an illegal hunt of six bison.
Animal Justice, a national animal law advocacy group, has urged the provincial government to consider the action against Gerald Sean Gebler.
The 52-year-old from Portage la Prairie is accused of tricking three people into killing the bison over the Thanksgiving long weekend. Police believe he solicited the hunters on social media, saying they could harvest the animals for $1,000 each.
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Bison at Brendan Liske’s 160 acre ranch which includes 105 acres of fenced land for his herd of 60 bison.
“The animals themselves are clearly victims here. They were shot and killed for absolutely no good reason and it’s my hope that the province will treat this as an animal cruelty offence,” Kaitlyn Mitchell, the group’s director of legal advocacy, told the Free Press Friday.
Mitchell reached out to the province’s animal health and welfare branch after news broke about the bison killings, asking it to “urgently investigate this matter and take enforcement action.”
She argued the deaths violate either the Criminal Code or Animal Care Act because the bison were not killed for legitimate agricultural or hunting reasons.
“It seems like a really clear-cut case to me,” she said.“You cannot shoot and kill animals without unnecessary suffering and distress.”
The provincial branch told the advocacy group Friday morning it is reviewing the file with RCMP, Mitchell said.
Gebler is charged with theft over $5,000 and mischief over $5,000. Crown prosecutors are still reviewing the matter and additional charges are possible, RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre said Friday.
The animals, all of which are believed to have been pregnant, were shot to death and then dragged away from the Buffalo Valley Ranch in the Rural Municipality of Russell-Binscarth, property owner Brendan Liske told the Free Press.
“We saw all the drag marks and we followed them to the tire feeders,” Liske said, describing the area on his 160-acre property where the animals died.
“It was just packed down ground and giant pools of blood.”
Liske said he knows the person accused of orchestrating the killing scheme.
The men met in April when Liske purchased six bison from a ranch near Amaranth. Liske agreed to pay Gebler $5,000 up front and an additional $4,000 after the bison gave birth to calves, he said.
Liske said when the bison arrived at his property, he realized Gebler had misrepresented their species, which was different from the type of bison on his ranch. The animals also appeared to be sickly.
Liske did not send Gebler the remaining money because he felt he had violated the terms of their agreement, he said.
“My guess is it is a retaliation because he couldn’t scam me,” Liske said. “To me, it still doesn’t make sense why he did it because we were square.”
Liske provided evidence of the transaction to police, demonstrating the terms of their agreement and the money exchanged, he said.
Two of the bison killed over the weekend were originally purchased from Gebler, he said.
Police confirmed they are aware of the connection between the men.
“Any prior business dealings would be a civil matter and the actions taken by the suspect don’t justify any issues that may have arisen previously,” Manaigre said.
Robert Johnson, president of the Manitoba Bison Association, said he had never heard about a bison producer being targeted in such a scheme. The crime has been big news in the provincial bison community, which is relatively small and close-knit, he said.
Johnson urged all producers to invest in security measures, including trail cameras, to protect their animals.
RCMP said investigators collected evidence from numerous trail cameras that showed four people had driven onto the property in a pickup and several off-road vehicles.
“We support private property rights and do not condone trespassing,” Johnson said. “It’s unfortunate that people were led astray and there are animals that were destroyed. We just want to see a peaceful resolution to it. Let it play out through the courts.”
Johnson said Gebler and Liske are not members of the bison association.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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