An elk near the Elk County Visitor Center, which is located on DCNR land.
Steve Manuel / AP Photo
Court allows seizure of camera in elk feeding case
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The Associated Press
Steve Manuel / AP Photo
An elk near the Elk County Visitor Center, which is located on DCNR land.
(Harrisburg) — A Pennsylvania appeals court says a game warden had the right to seize a wildlife camera without a warrant during an investigation into illegal elk feeding in Elk County.
A three-judge Commonwealth Court panel on Friday overturned a county judge’s ruling that a Game Commission wildlife conservation officer acted improperly in taking the camera.
The opinion says the officer warned 53-year-old Keith Robert Laskovich in 2016 not to feed elk at his hunting camp adjacent to a state game land, then seized the camera the following year.
The warden later got a search warrant for the camera’s memory card and charged Laskovich with illegally feeding elk.
A judge threw out the evidence, but the appeals court says the camera was in plain view so the seizure didn’t violate privacy rights.
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