Posted on 06/20/2013 8:14:17 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Fighting to save Freedom can be fraught with danger, and not just from the IRS:
Local officers seized a bald eagle from the home of Greencastle, Indiana man, Jeffrey Henry and charged him with unlawful possession of the bird. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) received an anonymous tip that Henry was keeping the eagle in his apartment, an action punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Bald eagles have been federally protected since 1940 when Congress recognized the need to guard the species’ diminishing population. The “Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act” prohibits hunting, possession and sale of the birds along with their nests and eggs.
As reported by WISH News 8, Henry had the bird in his home for 11 hours after several weeks of caring for the sick animal in the wild. The outdoorsman told the station that he noticed the bird a few weeks ago when he was hunting for mushrooms in Putnam County. The eagle was unable to fly, stuck in mud, and hungry, so he fed it fish eventually two times a day. When campers on four-wheelers arrived in the area, Henry suspected the grounded eagle would be in danger. He said, “I took him a fish out there and as we was leaving, the bird starting following me, and continued to follow me, there’s no way to actually chase him off because he’d turn around and run right back to me. So I put the bird up on my arm and we got in the truck and took him to the house.” Having previously worked for the DNR, Henry knew he was breaking the law saying, “I’m probably going to be in a little bit of trouble, which I understand.” Though Henry believes he made the right choice adding, “I chose to take the punishment over the welfare of the bird.”
Let’s hope, unlike say public school officials, whoever adjudicates Henry’s case can take his motives and treatment of the bird into consideration. He sounds like someone who’d take the $500 fine for the team (Team America) to have successfully kept the eagle alive. Sometimes well-meaning citizens don’t operate in exactly the way whatever bureaucratic wildlife organization would recommend in the same situation, but they should not automatically be in danger of jail time. It’s not like owning a bald eagle is a great boon to one’s finances. In fact, even if it was dead and stuffed long before doing so was illegal, it might cost you $11 million in a fight with the IRS.
This reminds me of a 2011 story in which an 11-year-old Virginia girl rescued a woodpecker from the family cat only to be approached by a Fish & Wildlife agent flanked by an armed state trooper informing them of a court date and a $500 fee:
[The] Capo family stopped at a Lowes in Fredericksburg and they brought the bird inside because of the heat. That’s when they were confronted by a fellow shopper who said she worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“She was really nervous. She was shaking. Then she pulled out a badge,” said Capo.
The problem was that the woodpecker is a protected species under the Federal Migratory Bird Act. Therefore, it is illegal to take or transport a baby woodpecker. The Capo family says they had no idea.
“I was a little bit upset because I didn’t want my mom to get in trouble,” said Skylar.
So as soon as the Capo family returned home, they say they opened the cage, the bird flew away, and they reported it to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“They said that’s great, that’s exactly what we want to see,” said Capo. “We thought that we had done everything that we could possibly do.”
But roughly two weeks later, that same woman from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed up at Capo’s front door. This time, Capo says the woman was accompanied by a state trooper. Capo refused to accept a citation, but was later mailed a notice to appear in U.S. District Court for unlawfully taking a migratory bird. She’s also been slapped with a $535 fine.
Good stuff. That same year, Fish & Wildlife went after an Idaho man who shot a grizzly bear in his yard because he was unsure of the location of all of his children at the time, some of which had been playing outside. Jeremy Hill, then 33, immediately notified state authorities of his actions, but was nonetheless slapped with federal charges. The charges were later dropped after public uproar, but the feds extracted $1,000 from Hill, informing him that it was a violation of the Endangered Species Act to have shot the bear a final time once he knew his children were inside the house. I suppose leaving the bear to suffer would have been the path they prescribed?
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho announces that it is dismissing the pending misdemeanor criminal charge against Jeremy Hill for the killing of a grizzly bear on Mr. Hill’s property on May 8, 2011.
Mr. Hill has agreed that, under the applicable provisions of the Endangered Species Act and related Regulations, his actions on May 8, 2011 constituted a violation of one of regulations authorized by the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1538(a)(1)(G) (stemming from his violation of 50 CFR §§17.40(b)(1)(i)(C)(1) and (2)). These mplementing regulations of the Endangered Species Act prohibit removing nuisance bears, except authhorized by government uthorities. Mr. Hill has been issued a notice of violation and paid a $1,000 fine.
During the course of their investigation, state and federal wildlife officials were unable to establish the location of Mr. Hill’s children when the three grizzly bears were first sighted in the yard, about forty yards from the Hill home. Mr. Hill informed law enforcement that he last saw his children outside playing basketball in front of their home, but that he did not know where his children were when he saw the three grizzly bears near his pig pen. He stated that he was concerned for his children’s welfare. By the time Mr. Hill fired the final shot, he was aware that all of his children and his wife were inside of their house.
On the bright side, if any one of these Americans can somehow argue they are proprietors of a windmill farm, they can pretty much kill all the endangered species they want without consequence.
Remember when a woman sent Hillary Clinton a “Dream Catcher” with an eagle’s feather she found on the ground? Hillary turned her in.
“How dare you shoot the King’s deer in the King’s forest!”
RE: My brother-in-law wanted to pick up the feather to take back to Australia. I warned him that he would likely be jailed and deported for so much as possessing an eagle feather he found in the forest. It is my understanding that only Native Americans are allowed to have eagle feathers and only for ceremonial use.
My mother ( who immigrated in Australia ) bought hand-painted OSTRICH EGGS when she visited South Africa several years ago. They were CONFISCATED when she arrived in Melbourne. It is DISALLOWED.
These are examples of idiots following the letter of the law but ignoring the spirit of the law. This is what Judges used to be for...to throw out cases that are ridiculously misguided.
Hope they don't find the two birds I flip at the TV every time I see a politician on the screen..
One thing I love about where I love is that if I were keeping a bald eagle and my neighbors found out, the only question would be BBQ or broiled.
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Snitching hardly warrants cannibalism. Just sayin’.
It never got to Hillary. They screen everything coming in to the White House far away.
From Snopes.com
[Peg] Bargon pleaded guilty in August 1995 to two misdemeanor counts of violating the Lacey Act and the Bald Eagle Protection Act. She was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Urbana to two years of probation and fined $1,200.
The Monticello woman was pardoned Saturday by President Clinton, who pardoned or gave clemency to 140 people in the final hours of his presidency.
Her troubles began when she gave first lady (now Sen.) Hillary Rodham ClintonCQ a dream-catcher made with eagle feathers at a University of Illinois ceremony in May 1994.
According to American Indian lore, dream-catchers, which are made of string, stones and feathers attached to a hoop, are supposed to bring good dreams to the owner. But it has brought nothing but nightmares to Bargon.
Bargon said she had no idea that it was illegal just to possess the feathers. Possession of such a feather is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of as much as $56,000. Possession with intent to sell the feathers could bring up to a year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
The AP estimated 573,000 birds are killed each year by wind turbines.
Hundreds are golden or bald eagles.
Inside many government agents is a fascist just itching to inflict harm.
I see you are familiar with the Ferengi Rule of Acquisition 285, which is also a quote from Oscar Wilde.
Rule 284: Deep down, everyone’s a Ferengi.............
I think the writer’s heart is in the right place, but she really needs to report the facts.
I clicked on the very link that she supplied to read about the woodpecker story because I was totally confused as to how the woodpecker wound up in Lowe’s with the girl.
The link tells, at the end, that the mother’s citation was canceled and no fine was taken.
It is my understanding that only Native Americans are allowed to have eagle feathers and only for ceremonial use.
***
I think you are right about that. The memory is quite fuzzy, as I read the piece about 15 years ago, but I remember seeing an article about a woman who got into trouble for incorporating into the jewelry that she crafted feathers that she had picked up here and there in the wild. She was displaying her wares for sale at some sort of festival, totally unaware that she was breaking the law until someone associated with USFWS learned of her jewelry.
I actually don’t have a lot of sympathy for this guy. He’s a former DNR worker, so he knew what he was doing was wrong. It takes about three seconds with google to find several raptor rehabilitation groups in Indiana. I live in Alaska, and it’s common for eagles to find themselves injured and the raptor centers do a great job in trying to get them rehabbed and back out into the wild.
I’ve been aware since I was about 18 that it was illegal to even posses a bald eagle feather that one happened to find, much less try to keep one for even altruistic reasons.
Just because it is a law doesn’t mean it is right.
Possessing “songbird” feathers gets fine or jail. That includes bluejay.
What kid didn’t grow up with beautiful bluejay feathers in their treasure box?
Damned regulatory fascists!
I found some sort of raptor claws (probably red-tailed hawk) out in a field and was dumb enough to think I could use them to make a neat kerchief slide for my son's boy scout uniform. Before I could start on it, however, someone told me about the law.
Since Zero and his Marxist cabal rode into DC, I would say you are correct.
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