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WATCH: A group of dirt bikers had a terrifying experience over the weekend, after someone allegedly strung barbed wire across a trail in the Porcupine Hills. Katelyn Wilson reports.
“There’s a lot of children – I’ve got nieces and nephews, and you see lots of people on Facebook, their kids are out there – the worst part is that these people don’t take into consideration that it’s young lives they could be taking.
“We’re going to stay strong and we’re going to keep riding out there,” he continued. “We’re going to be keeping an eye open for the safety of ourselves and all the other riders out there. If we see any foul play, it will be dealt with by the police. Just please don’t do it again.”
A group of dirt bikers was faced with a terrifying experience over the weekend when someone strung barbed wire across a trail in the Porcupine Hills.
“It just about killed our friend,” OHV user Kristoffer Beer said.
It was the first weekend of the season for the group of seven, who’ve been riding in the area since they were kids.
Jordan Sinnott was lead rider and was not prepared for what they encountered
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“All of a sudden, I thought I saw a barbed wire fence and thought I was going into a fence so I ducked, put my head to my seat and somehow managed to get underneath the one wire that was there.”
Beer was right behind him and managed to stop just in time.
“Once that happened, we walked down the trail and we found more strung across the trail like that one, in areas you can’t see it, where there’s shade,” he said.
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Sinnott was lucky to walk away with a few scrapes and bruises and a banged-up bike.
He believes the barbed wire was put there to send a message.
“It wasn’t just hand tied and loosely put in the trees,” Sinnott said. “Someone actually had pliers and tightened it up and it was across the trail… It was intentionally put there to hurt a biker.”
Pincher Creek RCMP are currently investigating.
Jeff Harker was also there that day and says things could have been much worse.
“There’s kids that use these trails,” he said. “Where the barbed wire was placed, about four feet high is neck-high to a kid and I don’t want to see anyone getting hurt.”
READ MORE: Off-highway vehicle enthusiasts fight proposed ban in new Alberta parks
Luckily no one was seriously injured and the group was able to make the approximately 30-kilometre ride back to their vehicles.
“It’s not usually something that you look for when your riding and it’s always going to be in the back of all our minds.
“Going around a corner, there might be barbed wire and it will peel your head off,” Beer said.
They want to know why anyone would do this, but it’s not enough to keep them off the trails.
“I don’t think barbed wire will stop us. We’ll just be a little more cautious and try to keep everyone informed that this is happening.”
© 2017 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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