ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide. Founded in 1992, ANIMAL PEOPLE has no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. |
This site built and maintained by: GREANVILLE ASSOCIATESand CRESCENT COMMUNICATIONS •Rev. 12.1.05 Copyright ANIMAL PEOPLE, INC. 1992--2006
 |
 |
ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
|
MONTH: November/December 2007
Killing predators barely noticed in U.S
LOS ANGELES -- Killing protected predators makes headlines in much of the world, but in the U.S. often barely rates a published mention, perhaps because the offense is frequent and not all that different from the routine practices of many public agencies.
USDA Wildlife Services, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and many other state wildlife departments routinely target predators including coyotes, wolves, bears, feral cats, and cormorants. Some of these species are protected in some habitats but not others.
Private citizens accused of killing predators, usually as a crime of opportunity while hunting other species, often win lenient sentencing by pleading confusion––such as mistaking a wolf for a coyote, or a grizzly bear for a black bear.
Recent predator killers who were caught in circumstances precluding a defense of confusion included roller pigeon flyer Timothy Decker, 60, of Mira Loma, California, who on Halloween 2007pleaded guilty in federal court to two charges of killing red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks. Decker received a suspended three-month jail sentence, five years on probation, and a fine of $2,000, payable to the Los Angeles Audubon Society.
Decker was the fourth defendant convicted in a three-state investigation of pigeon flyers described in the October 2007 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE. (“The Image of pigeon flying takes a tumble.”) Some of the California defendants are believed to have killed thousands of raptors before getting caught by a 14- month U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service investigation.
Mohawk Fish Hatchery owner Michael J. Zak, Jr., 59, of Sunderland, ssachusetts, on July 25, 2007 drew the stiffest recent sentence in a similar case: six months in a federal halfway house plus a $65,000 fine for allegedly killing more than 200 protected birds between 2004 and 2006. One of his employees, Timothy Lloyd of Easthampton, received two years on probation and a fine of $1,500.
U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor “said he was baffled that Zak, whom he described as a wealthy and accomplished hunter, never installed netting over the fish runs, a tactic used by other hatcheries,”reported Jack Flynn of the Springfield Republican.
Said Ponsor, “He killed hundreds of birds rather than do something that is not all that hard and not all that expensive.”
At least three dozen other cases of predator killing by hunters and others exploiting animals for sport came before U.S. courts while Decker and Zak awaited trial. About half involved shooting eagles and other raptors.
Among other examples,two hunters were fined $2,385 and $2,150, respectively, for illegally shooting wolves in separate cases in Michigan; Oregon State Police arrested a 60-year-old man who shot a sea lion after the sea lion took a salmon off the line of a fellow angler; and Ricky Leonard, 41, of Van Buren, Maine, drew 21 days in jail for shooting a lynx while hunting grouse in November 2005. Kevin L.Fortin, 57, of Van Buren, was earlier fined $1,500 and sentenced to seven days in jail for buying the pelt. Both men claimed to have mistaken the lynx for a bobcat.
In mid-October 2007 the Maine Warden Service opened an investigation into the shooting of a second lynx whose remains were found between Van Buren and Hamlin, where Fortin was apprehended.