Poaching gang busted in Alberta

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Poaching gang busted in Alberta

Five people, including an American fugitive wanted on wildlife crimes in Montana, have been charged in Alberta following a pair of undercover investigations into poaching and the illegal trafficking of animal parts.

Simon Paul of Montana, Teresa Snow and Eli Snow of Morley, along with Calgary residents James Brittain and Sophia Soriano, face 34 charges under Alberta’s Wildlife Act and nine Criminal Code charges.

Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services (FWES) said the group was linked to the killing of eagles, hawks and other animals, and the trafficking of feathers, claws and other body parts.

Investigators said Paul was living on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation after fleeing U.S. charges related to killing and selling birds of prey.

Reports later indicated he was continuing to kill eagles on both Stoney Nakoda and Eden Valley lands. Undercover officers purchased items including a bald eagle feather headdress, bear claw necklaces and a raptor talon dance stick.

A separate investigation in Cochrane began in March after a Report A Poacher tip alleged Paul and Eli Snow were shooting raptors from a truck. Search warrants on their vehicle and home uncovered fresh eagle parts, feathers, blood, and unsecured firearms.

Charges include unlawful hunting, possession and trafficking of wildlife, providing false information to officers, and careless storage of firearms.

Officials praised the work of fish and wildlife officers, RCMP and Tsuut’ina Nation police for bringing the case forward.

Alberta law permits indigenous harvesting for subsistence within families, but it prohibits trading or selling wildlife products.

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/poaching-gang-busted-in-alberta/67592
 
Ocean chickens is big money. They throw out a Halibut carcass on a inshore island and shoot 30 Ocean chickens. Ucluelet back in 1994.
Think 4,5, $10000 a bird. Shoot 30 and $150000+ could be yours. Hmm.
 
Given that there is ample historical record of Indians hunting Eagles, why exactly are they some sort of Sacred Cow?
 

🤬🤬​

This is nothing new as it has been going on in BC since 1996 (and likely earlier) .
I suppose that Squamish Birds are not as worth as much as those from the ones from the Ocean (oceanchickens).
Poacher are thieves, be the caucasian or Indigenous and where there is money to be made the greed will take over.
Hope the catch the SoB's and they are ridiculed for their actions publicly.

A Time story from 2005, Where Eagles Die
3 minute read

Deborah Jones/Vancouver
April 3, 2005 12:00 AM EST
Last February, a woman walking her dog in the woods of North Vancouver stumbled upon a grotesque find: the mutilated carcasses of 26 bald eagles. The discovery set in motion a major investigation involving law enforcement and conservation officials in both Canada and the U.S. Now, TIME has learned, authorities have identified suspects in a poaching and smuggling ring that they say annually slaughters more than 500 of the protected animals on British Columbia’s southwestern coast alone, with perhaps hundreds more killed each year elsewhere in the province. Officials are expected to make a formal announcement of their progress in the case early next week.
Killing eagles is illegal in Canada and the U.S. In addition, it’s against the law for Americans to possess bald-eagle parts unless they are registered tribal members with special government permits. But with feathers and talons a major feature in traditional aboriginal dance regalia—which is popular on a competitive circuit that offers rich prizes for the best outfits—there’s a hot black market for eagle parts in the U.S.

The magnificent birds, with their eight-foot wingspan, striking white heads and piercing yellow eyes, are recognized worldwide as an American national emblem. But in the mid-1990s they were nearly wiped out in the lower 48 American states by chemical pesticides like DDT. While many U.S. populations have recovered, the majority of the world’s 100,000 bald eagles still live in Alaska and B.C., says Canadian biologist Richard Cannings. And while the B.C. eagle population is thriving, large-scale poaching in the province threatens American bird populations, because eagles from throughout the western U.S. migrate to B.C. each winter.
Smuggling of Canadian eagle parts to the U.S. is not new. An undercover operation cracked a U.S. ring in 1996. In another case, B.C. native Terry Antoine was sentenced in 2001 to two years for smuggling, selling and possessing eagle parts in the U.S. A federal jury in Seattle heard that Antoine, who was linked to the deaths of 173 eagles, had paid other B.C. residents $20 to $50 apiece to shoot the birds, which he then butchered and smuggled the parts across the border. There, he could sell wing feathers for as much as $150 and tail feathers for $250.

In the current investigation, the public has supplied more than 90 tips to conservation officers in both countries, officials say. So far about 50 dead birds with tail and wing feathers and talons removed have been found dumped in wooded areas near the traditional territory of B.C.’s Squamish and Burrard Indian bands, north of Vancouver. Band officials vehemently reject suggestions that aboriginals are involved in the slaughter. “We all share equally the horror and shock and frustration,” Squamish Nation council chair Bill Williams says.
The poaching involves people of many different ethnicities, says Paul Chang, an agent with the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But while he acknowledges that eagles have a historic place in aboriginal societies, Chang adds, “There are native Americans willing to trade in these parts.” And with black-market prices for the parts remaining high, the temptation to join the illicit trade will continue.
 
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