Community Rallies Around Moose Poaching Incident, Raises Funds for Reward

WESTMORE, Vt. – A Go Fund Me campaign has been started to raise reward money for an unsolved moose poaching case that took place in September. The campaign was started by Craftsbury Common resident Cindi Bollettieri.

A cow moose was shot from the road out of season and at night on Saturday, September 23. Vermont's regulated moose hunting seasons are in October, and are limited to a small number of hunting permits that are allocated through a lottery system.

After the moose was shot in Westmore, it was attached to a vehicle and dragged on the road more than 11 miles to the town of Orleans. The animal was left by the side of Hollow Road off Route 58 in Orleans. The cow moose was lactating, indicating that she likely had a calf with her.

The fundraising campaign is available at www.gofundme.com/moose-poacher-reward.

"This action was particularly heinous, so I can understand why people are outraged," said Col. Jason Batchelder, Vermont's chief game warden. "The fact that people are giving to this campaign shows that Vermonters will not stand for poaching in our state."

Members of the public with information about the incident should notify Operation Game Thief at 1-800-75ALERT (1-800-752-5378) or online at www.vtfishandwildlife.com. Operation Game Thief also pays rewards to members of the public who identify poachers.

Bollettieri has personally donated $2,000 to the effort, both through the Go Fund Me campaign and directly to Operation Game Thief.

"These poachers demonstrated tremendous disrespect for the law and for this moose," said Col. Batchelder. "We're asking for anyone with information about this incident to come forward so that we can hold the people who did this accountable."


Photo by Cedric Alexander


Tom Rogers
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department
Information and Outreach
Davis 2 Building, 1 National Life Drive
Montpelier, VT 05620
[phone] 802-377-2628
[website] www.vtfishandwildlife.com