I have just received this from a friend, it is good news that at least some of the fines for poaching are going to conservation in Canada. If only the African nations were so diligent and concerned. (MW)
" Bald eagles and other rare birds continue to fall prey to poachers in British Columbia who sell their feathers and body parts in an underground market that stretches across Canada and into the United States", says a spokesman for B.C.'s Conservation Officer Service.
"The arrest of 15 people after a year-long undercover investigation into illegal trafficking of protected bird parts has not halted the activities of poachers who make money killing bald eagles and other birds", Rick Hahn, Lower Mainland operations supervisor for the service, said Friday.
"We don't think it has stopped," he said. "This was one segment of it, which was a pretty large segment, but we're pretty sure it's continuing."
The Province of BC announced Friday that a Victoria-area man was the seventh of the 15 people arrested and charged to face penalties under the Wildlife Act.
David Essary Bill of Brentwood Bay, B.C., was fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to unlawfully trafficking in bald eagle parts following a year-long investigation that involved B.C. Conservation Service Officers, Canadian Wildlife Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, RCMP, Vancouver police and agencies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Bill must pay $9,000 to the Habitat Trust Conservation Foundation, a wildlife organization that helps fund conservation projects. He must also pay the courts $830 considered the proceeds of crime and complete 100 hours of community service.
The investigation began in 2005 after the remains of 50 bald eagles were found in North Vancouver. In the end, suspects from Vancouver, Chilliwack, Langley, Duncan, Chehalis and Brentwood Bay, in B.C., as well as Hagersville, Ont., were charged under the Wildlife Act.
A total of $52,430 in penalties has been assessed so far against the seven convicted.
At the time of the investigation, the maximum penalties for poaching were fines of $50,000 and six months in jail.
The act was amended last spring, with the maximum fines raised to $250,000 and maximum jail terms of two years.
