Three New Hampshire men have pleaded guilty to U.S. federal wildlife charges after at least 41 illegally killed bobcats were sold as pelts at a fur auction in Canada, according to U.S. authorities and local reports.
Sherwood Dubrey Jr., 48, Randy Inman, 49, and Sherwood Dubrey Sr., 72, admitted to violating or conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, a U.S. law that bars the interstate or international movement of illegally taken wildlife. Sentencing is scheduled for January 2027.
“Over four years, the defendants illegally killed at least 41 bobcats and falsified where the animals were taken so they could be sold on the international market,” said Doug Ault, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement official.
Court documents say the killings took place between 2018 and 2022. Bobcats cannot legally be hunted in New Hampshire. Reports from NHPR said Inman and Dubrey Jr. used bait piles on their own property and on state land to lure the animals.
The pelts were then taken to New York, where bobcat hunting is legal. Dubrey Sr. obtained false wildlife tags saying the animals had been lawfully killed there, which allowed the pelts to be exported to Canada. The pelts were worth about US$3,000, according to the reports. Court documents do not name the Canadian auction house.
Inman and Dubrey Jr. face up to five years in prison each. Dubrey Sr. faces up to one year.
The case grew out of Operation Night Cat, an investigation by New Hampshire Fish and Game. Inman and Dubrey Jr. were convicted on state hunting violations in 2024, NHPR reported. Both are former corrections officers at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men.
The U.S. outlets differ on when the guilty pleas were entered. NHPR reported they came on Friday, Oct. 2, while CP24 reported they came in September. The sentencing date and maximum penalties are the same in both accounts.
The case shows how a lawful market in one country can be used to launder animals taken illegally in another. Falsified tags made the pelts look legal at the point of sale, so the paperwork, not the animals, was what buyers and auctioneers could see.
No Canadian charges have been reported, and it is not clear whether Canadian authorities were involved in the investigation. Canada Border Services Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada have not commented in the reports reviewed.
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Via CP24. Additional reporting from NHPR.
