14-03-2009, 06:01 PM | #21 |
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Hmmm. That's what I thought. Welcome to the wacky world of CITES.
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15-03-2009, 08:55 AM | #22 |
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The South East region of the BCG have a talk at their spring meeting on the 4th April, by Mr Tim Luffman from CITES. I am sure questions over the interpretation of these rules will be of great interest, and hopefully provide some clear guidance.
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22-03-2009, 11:36 AM | #23 |
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From Timesunion.com Friday 20th March
State puts bite on cold-blooded operation Authorities say 18 people charged after probe into large-scale poaching of reptiles, amphibians ALBANY — It took months for undercover state conservation police officers Daniel Sullivan and Richard Thomas to be trusted within the tight-knit world of illegal "herping" — shorthand for poaching of reptiles and amphibians. But once inside, the pair uncovered a thriving black market for some of New York's most-threatened wildlife that stretched across eight states and into Canada and as far as Germany and China. In one instance, a dealer bragged that he had made $100,000 in a year by selling thousands of snapping turtles to a Louisiana turtle farm that "laundered" the transaction before shipping the animals to China for food. In another case, a poacher who had been taking venomous copperheads — which can sell for several hundred dollars — from the Mohonk Preserve near New Paltz showed Thomas a home video of the swelling and discoloration that spread through his arm after being bitten by one of the snakes. And a reptile dealer from Canada was arrested in a Niagara Falls parking lot after he smuggled in 33 endangered massasauga rattlesnakes in the door panels of a minivan in exchange for Eastern timber rattlesnakes. Timber rattlers are a threatened species in New York, where populations are limited to certain rocky ledges around Lake George and parts of the Catskill Mountains. On Thursday, state officials revealed a three-year undercover investigation dubbed Operation Shellshock into the trafficking of protected species — turtles, snakes and salamanders — through the Internet and at herpetological shows where collectors buy, sell and trade animals like baseball cards. So far, 18 people have been charged with 34 felonies, 31 misdemeanors and more than 2,000 violations, with investigators documenting more than 2,400 illegal sales. About 400 live animals are being held as evidence. Most arrests were made within the metropolitan New York area and lower Hudson Valley, although a Ballston Spa man, Sean Kirk, 34, was among those charged with a misdemeanor, Kirk allegedly sold three Eastern box turtles native to New York to Thomas for $550. Kirk, who could not be reached for comment, has sold reptiles over the Internet under the name of Sean's Exotics, and has used the Web site herps4sale.com. His most recent site has been taken down. Penalties for illegal wildlife sales range from up to 15 days in jail and a $250 fine to a $5,000 fine and a four-year prison term. Illegal sales have been traced to New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and Hawaii. "A very lucrative illegal market for these creatures does exist, fostered by a strong, clandestine culture of people who want to exploit wildlife for illegal profit," said state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis at a news conference at DEC headquarters into the state's largest undercover wildlife sting Since 2006, it has been illegal to buy, sell, collect or possess any of the state's native reptiles and amphibians, although permits allow for limited educational uses. Earlier laws were less comprehensive and varied from species to species. During the investigation, DEC worked with wildlife officials from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida as well as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Canada's national environmental agency and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Thomas said the probe began in early 2006 after a complaint from SUNY researchers, who reported 30 spotted turtles, some embedded with radio transmitters as part of a four-year study, suddenly vanished. Those turtles have never been found. Sullivan and Thomas started looking at "herp" sites on the Internet to learn language and customs. By August, they were attending shows in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. ''We got a lot of face time, so people would know us,'' said Thomas, a lieutenant with DEC's Bureau of Environmental Crimes. Their work was to lead them to places as varied as a remote pond on Long Island, where a poacher allegedly took out a thousand turtle eggs in one day, to the crowded streets of Chinatown in New York City, where turtles were illegally sold. Thomas passed himself off as a vendor of high-end reptile and amphibian photographs, which encouraged some collectors to show him their illegal animals. The photographs are now evidence. "We bought, we sold. And there were a few times that I got frisked to make sure that I was not wearing a wire,'' said Sullivan, a DEC investigator. He was wearing a wire when one poacher said it would be impossible to get caught with illegal animals, because DEC could never mount an undercover sting. Sullivan said another poacher bragged that he had built a room in his home just to incubate turtle eggs, and he could handle up to 20,000 eggs at a time. "He told me that he had sold $100,000 worth of hatchling snapping turtles, tax free, last year alone," said Sullivan. |
22-03-2009, 11:39 AM | #24 |
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By the way the Sean Kirk mentioned is no relation
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22-03-2009, 12:58 PM | #25 |
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Again, this will make for interesting questions at the forthcoming meeting, on the 4th April 09, where, Tim Luffman is talking about Wildlife Crime?
I just hope the American investigators could give the same attention to the activities of China town, in New York, and I believe other US Cities. The attached release shows graphic pictures of North American Eastern Painted Turtles being sold, live in the food market, apparently in New York: http://www.careforthewild.com/files/...0608_final.pdf |
23-05-2009, 10:05 PM | #26 | |
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Quote:
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24-05-2009, 04:19 PM | #27 | |
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Like so much of the Fauna of the Western world, for many "First known, when lost"? Last edited by Geomyda; 24-05-2009 at 09:26 PM. |
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25-05-2009, 10:10 AM | #28 |
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is it legal in America that this goes on?
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30-09-2009, 01:30 PM | #29 |
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Don't they believe that golden thread turtles have medicinal properties too??......
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30-09-2009, 04:20 PM | #30 | |
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That said, most fresh water Turtles are eaten in southern China in particular. |
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