Hi Tweets,

This has nothing to do with birds, but I know many of you, like me, are
interested in other wildlife as well. So I'm forwarding this FYI.

Peggi




>Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 14:02:00 -0600 (MDT)
>From: Mitch Snow <mitch_snow at mail.fws.gov>
>To: fws-news at dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov
>Subject: Venomous Snakes Sent Through U.S. Mail
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>March 26, 1997

> Contact: Georgia Parham 812-334-4261 x 203
> Timothy Santel 217-793-9554
>
>
> Illinois Man Pleads Guilty to Wildlife Smuggling;
> Venomous Snakes, Other Reptiles Sent Through U.S. Mail
>
>A southern Illinois man today in court admitted his role in an international
>wildlife trafficking scheme that included smuggling of rare and protected
>reptiles from Spain, as well as shipping nearly 70 poisonous snakes through
the
>U.S. mail in unmarked packages to avoid detection by authorities.
>
>James P. Zaworski, 31, of Marion, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one felony count
>of conspiracy to smuggle wildlife into the United States and to trade in
>protected species in interstate commerce. Zaworski, a reptile dealer known
for
>his captive breeding success with small lizards called geckos, entered his
>guilty plea before Judge J. Phil Gilbert in U.S. District Court in Benton,
>Illinois, and now faces 5 years incarceration and/or a $250,000 fine.
>
>The investigation into Zaworski's activities began in 1994 at Kennedy
Airport in
>New York city, where U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife inspectors
>discovered a mail parcel from Spain addressed to Zaworski. Hidden within the
>parcel, were 13 Lilford's wall lizards, a small blue lizard that inhabits the
>Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. These lizards are protected by an
>international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
>Species (CITES), of which both the United States and Spain are signatory
>countries.
>
>Following the package to its destination in southern Illinois, U.S. Fish and
>Wildlife Service Special Agent Timothy Santel worked with U.S. Postal
>Inspectors, Illinois Conservation Police officers and other Service law
>enforcement officers to carry out a Federal search warrant at Zaworski's
>residence. They found records and documents chronicling 10 years of smuggling
>reptiles to and from Spain, France and South Africa. Among the reptiles
seized
>at Zaworski's home were the 13 Lilford's wall lizards, European ladder
ratsnakes
>also smuggled from Spain, box turtles illegally collected from a National
>Wildlife Refuge, venomous massasauga rattlesnakes mailed illegally from
Florida,
>a timber rattlesnake and Great Plains ratsnakes listed as threatened
species in
>Illinois, and two desert tortoises, a species considered threatened under the
>U.S. Endangered Species Act.
>
>Zaworski actively solicited and traded reptiles through the mail with Juan
>Gonzalez, a reptile supplier in Barcelona, Spain. Each would ship parcels
>containing live reptiles in plastic containers, using fictitious names and
>addresses. Packages were unmarked and declared as "books" to avoid
detection.
>Search warrants were also served on Gonzalez by authorities in Barcelona, and
>portions of the investigation are ongoing in Spain and several U.S. states.
>Additional people may be charged.
>
>Investigators found Zaworski frequently traded venomous snakes, collecting
from
>the wild and subsequently mailing copperheads, timber rattlers,
massasaugas, and
>speckled and diamondback rattlesnakes in violation of U.S. Postal laws.
>Zaworski was also found to have collected turtles and snakes from national
>wildlife refuges and national forests. These reptiles were then traded or
sold
>to reptile collectors around the country.
>
>Among the wildlife laws Zaworski violated are the U.S. Endangered Species Act,
>which prohibits trade in endangered and threatened species; and the
Convention
>on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which prohibits or
>restricts trade in listed species among the 134 signatory countries. In
>addition, Zaworski's trading activities violated the Lacey Act, a Federal
>statute which prohibits interstate commercialization of wildlife in
violation of
>State laws. Some of the species traded were protected by Illinois state law,
>including the Dangerous Animals Act which prohibits the possession of dangerous
>wildlife, including venomous snakes.
>
>This investigation was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney
William E.
>Coonan, Southern District of Illinois and Jonathon Blackmer, U.S.
Department of
>Justice, Wildlife and Marine Resources Section, Washington, D.C.
>
>In a related smuggling investigation, Robert L. Mitchell, St. Charles,
Missouri,
>pleaded guilty in April 1996 for violations of the Lacey Act. Mitchell was
>fined $10,000 for unlawfully importing 18 live Hermann's tortoises through the
>mail. These protected tortoises were sent by Gonzalez of Barcelona, Spain, in
>the same manner that Zaworski smuggled reptiles.
>
> -30-
>
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>.-
>
>
Ben & Peggi Rodgers
Aptos, CA (near Santa Cruz 122 W, 37 N)
USA
woodduck at cruzio.com


"A bird does not sing because it has an answer,
It sings because it has a song"