NATIONAL NEWS: A man has been spared jail for more than a dozen charges relating to illegal feral pig hunting in National Park and pine plantation areas.
Anthony Norman Nelson, 49, of Kooringal, faced Wagga Local Court on Monday having earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of hunting in a forestry area without a licence.
Nelson also admitted to three charges of hunting on private land without consent and one charge of unlicensed hunting on public land.
Police searched Nelson's home last year after NSW Department of Primary Industries hunting inspectors were sent a video Nelson had posted to Facebook in which he said he killed three pigs.
The court was shown multiple videos depicting Nelson using a knife to stab and kill small feral pigs after they had been chased and held down by his dogs.
Police seized a handheld GPS unit that yielded 42 data logs of Nelson's movements and those of his GPS transmitter-enabled dog collars during hunting trips between January 2 and June 22, last year.
The GPS data showed Nelson had been illegally hunting in Carabost, Murraguldrie, Bondo, Micalong and Wee Jasper state forests and Woomargama and Kosciuszko national parks.
Nelson also illegally hunted on private pine plantations at Carabost, Argalong and Humula.
Magistrate Rebecca Hosking in court on Monday said Nelson's hunting had been "all fun and no responsibility" and the most serious charge was not alleviating an injured animal's pain.
Nelson's solicitor Paul Keane said his client had let a pig go because he "did not have the tool for the job" to kill the animal and "did not want to dispatch it with a stone".
Nelson was also charged with failing to discharge biosecurity duty for letting the pig return to a National Park area.
Mr Keane denied that Nelson had done so to maintain the population of feral pigs for future hunting.
Senior Police Prosecutor Sergeant Jason Tozer said there were "quicker ways" to kill pigs with a knife than Nelson's methods.
Nelson denied in court Sergeant Tozer's allegation that he had stabbed feral pigs in the abdomen.
Mr Keane argued Nelson should not be sentenced on the basis of his hunting methods, which would have been legal if he had a licence or was on consenting private property.
"There's no pretty way to do [pig hunting]," Mr Keane said.
Mr Tozer argued that due to Nelson having committed numerous offences over a period of six months, the only appropriate sentence would be a full-time custodial penalty.
"He did not engage in the practices to make his hunting legal. He kept going for months until police saw the videos on social media. It takes huge resources to enforce hunting regulations," Mr Tozer said.
Magistrate Hosking responded that she was always astounded "that people are charged because of their stupidity in posting their own crimes on social media".
Mr Keane said his client's offences were on the low range of seriousness and he had targeted an invasive pest species.
Magistrate Hosking fined Nelson a total of $6280 including $1100 for each of the public land hunting charges and $340 for unlawfully cutting down a tree, taking into account his ability to pay as an unemployed person with dependent children.
Magistrate Hosking sentenced Nelson to a 12-month community corrections order with 200 hours of community service for the charge of failure to alleviate an animal's pain.
