THE HEARTBREAKING COST OF GREED AND POACHING IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

There are news stories that break your heart, and then there are those that ignite a deep, sorrowful anger for the wild creatures who have no voice to defend themselves.

In New Hampshire—where bobcats (Lynx rufus) have been protected for decades to allow their populations to recover from historic near-extinction—three men have pleaded guilty in federal court for a cold, calculated poaching operation. Over four years, more than 40 wild bobcats were lured using bait piles on public and private lands, slaughtered with scoped rifles, illegally tagged under false CITES claims in New York, and shipped off to fur auctions for $350 a pelt.

What cuts deepest isn’t just the sheer scale of the slaughter—it is the utter lack of respect for nature. Court records revealed text messages showing the poachers actively opposed creating a legal hunting season simply because it would create “competition” for their private black-market profit.

KEY DETAILS OF THE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION:

• Plea of Guilt: Sherwood Dubrey Jr. (48), Randy Inman (49), and Sherwood Dubrey Sr. (72) pleaded guilty to federal Lacey Act charges in Concord, New Hampshire, for illegal trafficking across state and international borders.

• Calculated Deception: Between 2018 and 2022, the men transported New Hampshire’s protected bobcats into New York, illegally using New York CITES tags meant for lawfully taken game before routing the pelts to Wisconsin and fur auctions in Canada.

• Technology & Cruelty: The poachers used specialized camera-scopes to record video footage of the kills, sharing the media while baiting the animals on state land.

• Federal Accountability: Sentencings are scheduled for January 2027, with Dubrey Jr. and Inman facing up to five years in federal prison and Dubrey Sr. facing up to one year.

DEFENDING THE QUIET GUARDIANS OF OUR FORESTS

Wild predators like the bobcat are not commercial commodities—they are the living pulse of North American woodlands. When poachers exploit protected wildlife for personal gain, they rob entire ecosystems and betray the trust of every citizen who values natural heritage.