Sandwich’s Joseph Canfield named Wildlife Officer of the Year

CONCORD — Conservation Officer Joseph Canfield of Sandwich has been named the 2017 Shikar-Safari International Wildlife Officer of the Year.  

Canfield began his career with New Hampshire Fish and Game in 2013. Prior to that, he worked in law enforcement in Sandwich and Moultonborough.

In 2014, Canfield volunteered to become a member of the Advanced Search and Rescue Team and has helped in complicated rescues, including clearing a specific location on the side of a steep mountain to allow an Army National Guard helicopter to lower a cable to extricate a critically injured patient.

In 2015, he was asked to be the team leader of the newly acquired Side Scan Sonar and an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle. This past year, he was successful in securing an additional Homeland Security grant to allow the purchase of an updated Side Scan Sonar and improved Remotely Operated Vehicle.

After the successful completion of his first training year as a conservation officer, Canfield was assigned to the 26-patrol area within District Two, covering Sandwich, Moultonborough, Ossipee, Effingham, Meredith, Center Harbor, Holderness and Tamworth. 

 “Throughout his tenure, Joe has consistently exhibited a strong work ethic and a level of professionalism that exemplifies what today’s wildlife officer should strive to be,”  Fish and Game Law Enforcement Chief Kevin Jordan said. “Joe has worked consistently to integrate himself into the various communities within his patrol area in a manner that has made him a well-known and respected member of those communities.”

The Shikar-Safari Club International was founded in 1952 as a group of international hunters who joined together to exchange experiences and ideas about hunting. It started as a social hunting organization, but soon recognized its potential to accomplish meaningful goals in the field of conservation.  About 1973, the Shikar-Safari International Foundation was formed. Money raised by Shikar-Safari International members is used to carry out various conservation projects throughout the world.