Every spring when the snow disappears, we start to see garbage that was covered over the winter. Regardless of how the garbage got there, it has a negative effect on our environment and our wildlife populations.
I can appreciate that sometimes garbage just gets away from you, or a pest gets into a bag and spreads it all over the yard only to be blown away by the wind. Although not really acceptable, we know it happens. However, what we continue to see is garbage simply being dumped out on private property or along back roads in rural areas.
Garbage is often found beside empty farms or piled up at available garbage receptacles. These are all examples of littering and an offence that conservation officers take seriously. The vast majority of these violations are not by accident. One may be able to explain a garbage bag falling out of the back of a truck, but when you see someone back into an approach and dump a truck load of shingles, or 10 bags of garbage, or worse yet an appliance; the chances of that happening by accident are slim to none.
Back in the day, one would get a littering ticket from an officer, possibly a court appearance and get a fine of $100 to $200.
Today, the minimum fine for littering both on water and on land is $580. Much like distracted driving, seatbelts and speeding, it is a pretty hefty hit to your wallet that can be avoided.
Those who litter do not do it by accident. There was a conscious decision to dump garbage in hope of not getting caught. There are people who dump their garbage out in the country that don’t want to pay the landfill fees. Other times, the landfill is closed and it was too much of a hassle to wait or get a key. I have stopped people after they have littered, and a very common reply once they have been caught is that they will go back and clean it up. But by this time it is too late – they already made the decision to litter. If I had not seen them, or stopped them, they would not have gone back on their own.
Another growing trend is people discarding wildlife parts and hides. This includes coyotes, deer, elk and moose harvested under a licence. People will get the animal home, de-bone it and, rather than dispose of it properly, simply dump it in an alley or on a rural road. The thought process is that the scavengers will clean it up, but it is still an eyesore and may bring in unwanted pests and predators to the area.
Some people are very conscientious when they are outdoors. This can be said especially for fishermen. Many times I see people out picking up bait containers, chip bags, beer cans and other garbage that someone left before them. I always thank those people and give them one of our game warden magazines or a SaskTIP fish hook for their extra efforts. We have to remember that not only does litter have a negative effect on our landscape, but it also has adverse effects on our wildlife populations.
