Over 100 pelts stolen from Winnipeg fur trade post

Thousands of dollars in furs have been stolen from Winnipeg’s Fort Gibraltar.

Thousands of dollars worth of fur pelts have been stolen from Winnipeg’s Fort Gibraltar, according to Breanne Lavallée-Heckert, Festival du Voyageur’s executive director.

Lavallée-Heckert said a window was broken to gain access to the approximately 140 pelts that were stolen from a building within the fort. She said the theft occurred sometime between the evening of Aug. 11 and the following morning.

“There was no damage to the gates of the fort, and the fort was locked up, so whoever it was would have had to climb over,” said Lavallée-Heckert.

She said the stolen pelts represented between 50 and 70 per cent of the fort’s pelt collection, adding that counts are still being finalized.

Lavallée-Heckert said the stolen pelts came from a range of animals, including wolverines, bears, coyotes, bears, foxes and lynxes. She said the largest pelts were between five and six feet long, and the stolen collection weighed more than 100 pounds.

“It would have been quite a considerable task to remove that,” said Lavallée-Heckert.

“It would have had to have been either some sort of wagon or a vehicle that would have moved the pelts, or there were a lot of people that were participating.”

She said the stolen pelts must have been thrown over the fort’s fence before leaving the property.

Located in Winnipeg’s Whittier Park, the fort is a replica of an early 19th-century North West Company fur trading post that was originally located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. Festival du Voyageur has owned and operated the replica since it was built in 1978.

While Lavallée-Heckert said the stolen pelts were not historic and did not date back to the original fort, she said they were used for historical interpretation for school programs and at Festival du Voyageur.

“We would love to have our collection restored,” she said.

“Those are a really big part of our festival and the work that we do.”

The Winnipeg Police Service said it is aware of the incident and the investigation will be tasked to the property crime unit once a report has been taken.

Lavallée-Heckert said all the stolen pelts are marked with the acronym “FDV” or display the registered charity’s toque and boots logo. The pelts also have the animal’s name written on the back in French.

“While we’re still working with authorities to figure out what the scope of the loss would be, if you see anything, please let us know so that we could potentially, hopefully, recover these,” she said.