>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29831-2001Apr17.html
>
>
>Humane Society In D.C. Chastised For Bird Killings
>
>By Avram Goldstein
>Washington Post Staff Writer
>Wednesday, April 18, 2001; Page A01
>
>
>The Washington Humane Society, charged with protecting animals from cruel
>humans, received a little obedience training from a judge yesterday for
>the crime of euthanizing three mockingbird hatchlings -- a violation of
>federal bird protection law.
>
>In a plea bargain that U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina described as
>a "special situation," the society pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count
>for capturing the 2-day-old mockingbirds outside the State Department last
>summer and promptly killing them.
>
>The case, prosecutors said, was representative of a wider pattern of
>behavior, which lasted for more than four years and involved 881 protected
>migratory birds. "A majority of these birds were captured alive, were sick
>or injured, and shortly after capture were euthanized," Assistant U.S.
>Attorney Ronald L. Walutes Jr. told Urbina.
>
>For the mockingbird incident, the private, nonprofit organization was
>sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation during which all society
>employees must undergo training by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on
>migratory bird laws. It also received a $50 "special assessment" to be
>paid to the U.S. attorney's office. In the agreement, it acknowledged
>mishandling the much larger number of birds.
>
>The society, which provides all animal control services under a $650,000
>annual contract with the District, "inadvertently and unintentionally
>violated the act," defense attorney Lisa J. Stevenson told Urbina,
>explaining that the society had not realized it needed a permit. "The
>Humane Society assures the court and the community that it is committed to
>treating animals humanely . . . and regrets that mistakes have been made."
>
>She said the Humane Society should have kept its staff informed of laws on
>handling wildlife. Since the investigation began, the society has obtained
>a permit to receive wild birds and transfer them to licensed rescue
>groups, but under no circumstances is the society permitted to euthanize
>birds.
>
>Fish and Wildlife Services officials said they would have pursued charges
>against the D.C. Health Department, which supervises the Humane Society
>contract, if the law did not exempt government agencies from prosecution.
>Health Department officials, though, said the contract with the Humane
>Society requires the agency to obey all laws governing its handling of
>animals.
>
>Looking down at Mary C. Healey, the Humane Society's executive director,
>before accepting the plea, Urbina noted with a slight smile that the
>organization "has not made any attempt to duck the issue" and that he did
>not think the defendant posed any "risk of flight."
>
>Nobody laughed.
>
>The case began almost humorously in August when two adult mockingbirds
>dive-bombed dozens of pedestrians -- even drawing blood, in some cases --
>because their three hatchlings were in a nest near the sidewalk.
>Widespread media coverage focused on the spectacle and on some workers who
>were chuckling about it. But as events unfolded, federal investigators
>were not amused.
>
>Within 30 minutes of their arrival at the animal shelter, the birds were
>put down with injections administered by a shelter technician.
>
>"We believe if they had been kept at the shelter, they would not have
>survived," Healey told the court. "They were very young."
>
>The episode became a criminal matter when a Fish and Wildlife Service
>agent showed up at the D.C. Animal Shelter and seized four years' worth of
>records. The files showed that the group improperly handled, and in many
>cases euthanized, 881 protected birds over four years without a permit
>required by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
>
>The federal law was enacted in 1918 to cover 832 species -- virtually all
>the wild birds that migrate through North America, Japan and Russia. Each
>violation can carry a penalty of six months in prison and a $15,000 fine.
>
>Humane Society officials declined to comment outside court yesterday, but
>a spokeswoman has said the animal shelter is understaffed and overwhelmed
>with animals. As a result, she said, society employees sometimes fail to
>fulfill all their obligations.
>
>Christopher Brong, a Fish and Wildlife Service special agent, said
>yesterday after the hearing that permit procedures are designed not only
>to protect birds but to ensure that other agencies are told about
>environmental hazards that often affect wildlife first.
>
>"That network of communication . . . is ongoing in states, but the
>District has kind of been doing its own thing for a number of years,"
>Brong said.
>
>"Here you have the Washington Humane Society, which was totally oblivious
>to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act," he said. "So we had to inform them."
>
>
>
>? 2001 The Washington Post Company

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html