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YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. - A Yakima County man was sentenced on Oct. 23 to two weeks in jail for trafficking elk, possibly through the black market.
According to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, 52-year-old Braden Tahkeal was sentenced last Thursday for a felony count of first-degree unlawful wildlife trafficking. He will spend 14 days in jail, with the possibility of home confinement.
The backstory:
Tahkeal's sentencing comes after a years-long investigation.
Fish & Wildlife agents received a tip in 2020 implicating Tahkeal in an illegal wildlife trafficking operation. Tipsters indicated that Tahkeal potentially trafficked as many as 42 elk into Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon via online black market chat groups.
WDFW officers went undercover and bought an elk from Tahkeal, with black market prices ranging between $800–$1,000.
"Unregulated economic markets for game and non-game wildlife have lasting negative impacts, as traffickers target specific types of wildlife at times when they are most vulnerable," said WDFW Police Captain Brad Rhoden. "We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the Kittitas County Prosecutor’s Office on this and other fish and wildlife cases."
What's next:
In addition to his two-week sentence, Tahkeal has also been ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to the Yakama Nation and $5,000 to WDFW.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.