In 2004, rangers in the East Everglades Subdistrict began an = investigation and developed intelligence which led to the uncovering of a large scale market of persons and businesses involved in the trapping and sale of protected migratory bird species.=20 The investigation began when rangers monitoring websites on the internet discovered that bird traps were being placed in the park. The traps = were found to contain painted buntings and indigo buntings.=20 Rangers and state officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife = Conservation Commission subsequently conducted surveillance operations and followed = the people who retrieved the traps and birds to a residence in a North Miami area called Hialeah. Once at this residence, they stopped, detained, interrogated, seized evidence from and cited several people for = Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) violations.=20 Further information was gained by state and federal USFWS agents who continued the investigation and uncovered a large marketing site in = Hialeah. Additional observations by field biologists with the U.S. Geological = Survey conducting research in South Florida revealed that many of the protected migratory birds were being sold illegally in pet stores and informal = flea markets around Miami. Six defendants, all residents of the Miami-Hialeah area, unlawfully sold and offered for sale indigo and painted buntings, = blue grosbeaks, and northern cardinals during the period from October 24, = 2004 through July 11, 2005 in violation of 16 USC 703 and 707.=20 The defendants conducted regular sales almost every Sunday, for many = months in the parking lot of a business in Hialeah. Undercover officers made = direct purchases of birds from the various defendants over the course of the investigation. The informal bird market, often attended by 50 to 100 = people, relocated to a local municipal park area during the undercover investigation. Over the course of the operation, officers were illegally sold over 250 protected migratory birds and were offered in excess of = 3,500 birds by the illegal dealers. The investigation also led to charges and convictions against three pet store operators for possessing the same protected species in their stores.=20 Under federal law, the Secretary of the Department of Interior maintains = a list of highly migratory birds that are protected from, among other = things, capture, barter, sale, or transport. The purpose of the federal law, = which is almost 90 years old, is to protect species of birds which, because of their migratory behavior, may be subjected to such severe hunting and = other "take" activity over their range that the species may suffer extirpation = or extinction. =20 Research conducted over a 30 year period has shown that populations of = at least one of the protected species involved in these cases, the painted bunting, have declined over 50% throughout their migratory range. Five of the defendants pled guilty, and the sixth was convicted on = February 3rd, 2006 of 4 counts of violating the Treaty. Sentencing for the sixth defendant is set for April 12th. He faces up to 2 years in jail and up = to $250,000 in fines for each count. =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count in which the birds you report were seen. The actual date of observation should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________