FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Fw: charges filed in California Condor killing

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

TN-Birders:
Here is a very informative article from the LA Times newspaper.

Let's go birding.....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
-----Original Message-----
From: Ellen Paul <epaul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ORNITH-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <ORNITH-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, May 01, 2003 11:35 AM
Subject: charges filed in California Condor killing


>>From the LA Times:
>
>April 30, 2003
>
>A Kern County hunter was charged Tuesday with killing a California
>condor ? one of the last born in the wild ? during a pig hunt earlier
>this year on Tejon Ranch near Bakersfield.
>
>Britton Cole Lewis, 29, of Tehachapi was charged with violating a
>federal law protecting migratory birds by allegedly shooting the condor
>known as AC-8, a matriarch of the federal government's $35-million
>program to rescue the endangered bird from extinction. The incident
>occurred on or about Feb. 8.
>
>Lewis was not charged with violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act,
>apparently because of a little-known 1998 Justice Department policy that
>seeks a higher level of proof in such cases, according to a source
>familiar with the investigation. Essentially a defendant must know the
>animal was endangered, said the source, who asked for anonymity because
>it is a pending legal matter.
>
>Assistant U.S. Atty. E. Robert Wright, who is prosecuting the condor
>case, confirmed that efforts were made to get the solicitor general's
>office, which handles significant cases for the Justice Department, to
>change the policy. He did not elaborate.
>
>If convicted under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Lewis could
>face up to six months in prison and a fine of $15,000. A violation of
>the Endangered Species Act could bring a maximum one-year prison term
>and a $100,000 fine.
>
>The decision to prosecute Lewis under the lesser charge angered
>environmentalists as well as those responsible for protecting the bird.
>Only 79 condors remain in the wild today.
>
>"It's a slap on his wrist and a slap in our faces," said Mike Clark, a
>member of the condor recovery team at the Los Angeles Zoo. "He was
>poaching, straight up. He's one of those people that give hunters a bad
>name."
>
>Michael Bean, senior attorney with Washington, D.C.-based Environmental
>Defense, agreed that stronger action was needed. "The California condor
>is one of the rarest species in the world. The effort to prevent its
>extinction has been one of the most expensive conservation efforts the
>United States has undertaken on the part of a species," Bean said.
>
>"To pursue what amounts to a slap on the hand for killing this bird is
>outrageous."
>
>State Resources Secretary Mary Nichols said her office will determine
>whether there is a need to bring additional charges against Lewis in
>state court.
>
>"It's a truly heinous crime that this man is charged with," Nichols
>said. "It's important that the prosecutors send the message that we're
>determined to restore these birds to their rightful places in the
>environment."
>
>AC-8 was among nine original condors captured in 1986 in a last-ditch
>effort to save the species from extinction. Weighing at least 20 pounds
>with a 9-foot wingspan, she spent the next 14 years in the federal
>government's captive breeding program.
>
>At 30 years old, the bird had produced a dozen offspring. She was
>returned to the wild in April 2000 to serve as a mentor for younger,
>captivity-bred condors released into the wild.

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    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
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