Abstract
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
I hope, gentle reader, that in this issue you have noticed a couple of new additions. We have a "From the Field'' series submitted by jack Clinton Eitniear of McAllen Texas. jack spends a great deal of time doing research in the wilds south of the border. You are, no doubt, already familiar with the many articles jack has published in Watchbird and we 're glad to have a good field man working with us. You will also notice that the canary expert Tony Bucci has finally agreed to serve as a canary editor for us. Tony's series "Canary Culture" on the van·ous aspects of the canary fancy has made him one of the most widely read canary men around.
We are very pleased to have these two fellows come aboard and lend their expertise to the ''Watchbird. ''
Authorities Are Struggling Against
Growing Trade in Rare and Endangered Wildlife
By THOMAS O'TOOLE the Washington Post
WASHINGTON-When Philadelphia reptile dealer Henry Molt met his shipment of almost 1,000 iguanas, crocodiles, pythons, death adders and monitor lizards at a New York pier, he was questioned at length by customs agents about why such rare reptiles arrived by way of Switzerland.
Mole's answers did not satisfy Customs Service officials, and an agent was sent to Philadelphia to check Molt's records. The agent was not satisfied; there was something fishy about the way Molt kept records, about the documentation on the rare tortoises from Madagascar and the even rarer iguanas from the Fiji Islands.
Pressed for more answers, Molt gathered up the iguanas and lizards he had not sold and bolted for the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, where he killed and
buried the reptiles. Right behind him, customs agents dug up the evidence and took their case against Molt to the Justice Department.
Nine-Month Sentence
Molt was sentenced by a federal judge in Philadelphia to nine months in jail for criminal violation of laws protecting the growing number of endangered and threatened species of animals the world over.
Molt is one of a growing number of dealers in rare animals, espcially reptiles and birds, who are being fined and imprisoned for smuggling animals into the United States from tropical habitats and for illegally dealing in indigenous animals protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
"The courts have begun to treat this illegal dealing in rare wildlife as a serious criminal activity," said Kenneth Berlin, chief of the two-year-old wildlife section of the Justice Department's land division. "We are now getting stiffer sentences, substantial fines and longer periods of probation for wildlife violations.''
Berlin estimates the illegal traffic in rare wildlife in the United States at between $ 50 million and $1 OQ million a year.
Big Trade in Parrots
He said that between 2 5, 000 and 50,000 parrots alone are smuggled into the country every year from Mexico and Central America, that 100,000 poisonous snakes are illegally shipped through the mails every year and that the traffic in such endangered and threatened domestic birds as bald eagles, scissortail flycatchers, broadwinged hawks, Carolina parakeets and condors is on the mcrease.
The largest illegal traffic is in reptiles and birds, in part because of the pro" liferation of game ranches and private collectors and in part because many species are nearing extinction.
"Some people just want the rarest things and don't care how they get them," Berlin explained. "They don't necessarily make good pets but people want them and will buy them.''
The heaviest illegal trade in birds involves parrots and macaws, whose numerous, exotic and colorful species are being plundered for private collectors in record numbers. Rare parrots and macaws fetch as much as $10,000 apiece, and even more abundant species like the yellow-headed Amazons go for $1,000 each.
Story Not Swallowed
Not long ago, a dealer was arrested for smuggling 250 parrots from Mexico to California, birds that he said were bred in captivity. An investigation found the parrots were so rare that only a few had ever been bred in captivity. "But he wanted us to believe that he had 250 of this handful in the back of his truck." Berlin said.
A dealer in San Diego was caught with 32 yellow-cheeked Amazons he said he bought from a breeder in Florida. To prove it, he produced an invoice, which was turned over to the FBI for handwriting analysis. The invoice turned out to be written by the dealer.
Since he was already on probation for smuggling 18 parrots into the country a year before, he was ordered to jail on the spot. "The judge didn't even let him go home to get his toothbrush,'' Berlin said.
The illegal wildlife trade is being fueled by the increasing number of private collectors.
Berlin said that in metropolitan Philadelphia alone there are 500 serious collectors of rare reptiles. He said the membership of the American Federation of A viculrurisrs (breeders of birds) is now more than 50,000 nationwide.