HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

The Wildlife Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 488. The Act is amended by:

Section 35 of the Act is amended by striking out section 35 (1) to (2) and substituting

Retrieval of wildlife killed

35  (1) In this section, "dwelling place" does not include a temporary or seasonal camp.

(2) A person commits an offence if the person hunts wildlife and kills or injures that wildlife and fails to make every reasonable effort to

(a) retrieve the wildlife, and if it is alive to kill it and include it in his or her bag limit, and

(b) remove the edible portions of the carcass of game to the person's normal dwelling place directly or through to a meatcutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant, unless exempted by regulation.

The Wildlife Act General Regulation is amended by striking out Section 12.02 (1) to (3) and substituting

Food use

12.02  (1) For the purpose of section 35 (2) (b) of the Act, "edible portions" with respect to big game, excluding, cougar, wolf, lynx, bobcat and wolverine, means the edible portions of the four quarters and the loins of the animal.

(2) For the purpose of section 35 (2) (b) of the Act, "edible portions" with respect to game birds means the edible portions of both breasts of the bird.

(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), "edible portions" do not include meat that has been damaged and made inedible by the method of taking.

 
Explanatory Note

This Bill amends the Wildlife Act and Wildlife Act General Regulation to ensure that edible portions of animals killed in BC are taken to a person's residence.