This type of tragedy really pisses me off because it' s so preventable. If he wasn' t gonna eat it & it wasn' t a pest, then why pull the trigger on the condor? Then the article places me (any many other hunters out there) into the same group as this idiot. I wish they had called the guy what he really is, and not a hunter.
From the Monterry County Herald
Posted on Sat, Aug. 16, 2003
Hunter sentenced for killing condor
By BRIAN SKOLOFF/Associated Press
FRESNO - An avid hunter was sentenced Friday to 60 months probation
and ordered to pay $20,000 for killing a California condor protected under the Endangered Species Act. Britton Cole Lewis, 29, of Tehachapi, pleaded guilty in May to shooting the condor, North America' s largest land bird. Lewis was charged under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which carries less severe penalties than the
Endangered Species Act.
Justice Department policy allows Endangered Species Act prosecutions only if authorities can prove the shooter knew the species was endangered.
Prosecutors said that could not be shown. ' ' I can honestly say I knew nothing about these condors,' ' Lewis told U.S. Magistrate Sandra Snyder before the sentencing. ' ' My grief comes from knowing that I shot one of the original wild
condors,' ' he said. ' ' I sincerely wish I could take back what I' ve done.' '
Five California condors have been shot and killed since 1992, leaving
about 200 condors alive today, including 79 living in the wild.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Wright said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service estimated the condor' s worth at $179,998. ' ' You cannot replace a condor. We don' t know to this day whether this bird will be saved,' ' Wright told the judge. ' ' This matter has huge public importance.' '
Lewis also was sentenced to 36 months probation and ordered to pay $180 to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for killing a common white-tailed deer in Illinois in 2001.Lewis pleaded guilty to falsely saying he was an Illinois resident to obtain his deer permit there. It became a federal crime when he brought the
deer' s mounted head home to California in April 2002.
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RE: Avid hunter or Avid poacher?
Quote:
An avid hunter was sentenced Friday to 60 months probation
Agian, wrong terminalogy. I think you hit the nail on the head avid poacher. A true hunter is ethical, nothing ethical in killing a endangered bird.
Your right JoeA this kind of stuff pisses me off as well. The media lumps ingrates in with hunters. Its kinda like calling drug dealers pharmacists.[:@][:' (][:@][:' (][:@][:' (][:@][:' (]
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The terminology is exactly correct... the guy was a hunter. Now we can debate over whether he was a sportsman, we can debate over whether he was ethical...but he was most definately a hunter. If that is doubted, we need to go back and look up the meaning of the word again.
I don' t agree with what the guy did. I think he should have his hunting privileges revoked for some time and pay the cost of having one of these birds re-bred and released into the wild.
Of course, $20,000 and 5 years probation is way overboard.
Isn' t it odd that we encourage women to kill their unborn and then sentence a guy to a $20k fine for killing a BIRD??? That' s absurd!
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I vote avid poacher. The California Condor has been in the news for the past 25 years as protected. Anyone who is an outdoorsman would know this. A HUNTER, should know what the hell he or she was shooting at before chambering a round, nocking and arrow, or priming a muzzelloader. Judging on how the guy had priors, he knew exactly what he was doing, or was an ignorant fool. Either way, we do not need people like this in the hunting community. Gun Control is just that...controling the responsibility we have, and making sure it hits what we are aiming at. I think 5 years probation and $20,000 was pretty light, and difinately the minimum considering how many laws were broken, and his priors.
BenGarrett your cross reference to abortion is just flat tasteless and uninformed. THAT is another discussion entirely. It seems to me this " hunter' s" mother would have done the world a favor if she practiced abortion. That' s as absurd as your argument.
I vote avid poacher. The California Condor has been in the news for the past 25 years as protected. Anyone who is an outdoorsman would know this. A HUNTER, should know what the hell he or she was shooting at before chambering a round, nocking and arrow, or priming a muzzelloader. Judging on how the guy had priors, he knew exactly what he was doing, or was an ignorant fool. Either way, we do not need people like this in the hunting community. Gun Control is just that...controling the responsibility we have, and making sure it hits what we are aiming at. I think 5 years probation and $20,000 was pretty light, and difinately the minimum considering how many laws were broken, and his priors.
BenGarrett your cross reference to abortion is just flat tasteless and uninformed. THAT is another discussion entirely. have done
Quote:
tIt seems to me this " hunter' s" mother would he world a favor if she practiced abortion. That' s as absurd as your argument.
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The terminology is exactly correct... the guy was a hunter. Now we can debate over whether he was a sportsman, we can debate over whether he was ethical...but he was most definately a hunter. If that is doubted, we need to go back and look up the meaning of the word again.
How about we look at a few definintions?
Hunter: a person who hunts game.
Game: animals taken under pursuit or taken in hunting, especially: wild animals
hunted for sport or food.
Poacher: 1. one who steals or trespasses.
2. one who kills or takes wild animals illegally.[:@]
Since a shooting a condor probably doesn' t fall into the " sport" category, and I' ll bet that the fool didn' t eat it, its probably safe to say that a condor wouldn' t be considered " game" . " If it ain' t game it ain' t hunting " . period.
I don' t think it takes a rocket scientist to understand that this creep is a poacher and not a hunter.
Avid hunter or Avid poacher?
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