A resident of Quebec has been fined $20,000 for carting away 45 fossils, including a globally known fossil site, from 3 national parks located in the Rocky Mountains.
In a news release, Parks Canada said that park wardens in Lake Louise, Alta., got a hint in 2020 from an individual about fossils being removed from the Burgess Shale, an important fossil site.
An investigation that was conducted that summer and fall brought about a search warrant by Quebec wardens and police at a Montreal home in November 2020.
Officials reveal that the search recovered 45 fossils, that were recognised by an expert from the Royal Ontario Museum as emanating from sites in Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay national parks.
According to them, most of the fossils originated from the Burgess Shale Marble Canyon Quarry, an area that is not accessible to the public, in Kootenay National Park in B.C.
The individual pleaded guilty to two charges in a Cranbrook, B.C., court recently and was ordered to return the fossils, pay the fine and obey a five-month conditional sentence that includes a curfew.
In a recent news release, Parks Canada said: “This is the largest fine that has been levied to date for the removal of fossils from the Burgess Shale and demonstrates the seriousness of the offence and the importance of this site.”
The Burgess Shale is one of the most important fossil sites in the world. It has fossil evidence of some of the earliest animals that lived in the oceans over 505 million years ago and was labelled a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980.
A fossil site around Stanley Glacier in Kootenay National Park was discovered in 1989 by researchers with the Royal Ontario Museum.
The Marble Canyon quarry was found in 2012 and over 10,000 specimens have been repossessed from that site by researchers.
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