Five injured birds could equal six months behind bars for tree trimmer

By Mike Krumboltz, Yahoo NewsJune 3, 2014 11:39 AMThe Sideshow

File photo of black crowned night heron (Thinkstock).

When 26-year-old Ernesto Pulido accepted a job to trim the trees near a post office in downtown Oakland, Calif., he couldn't have known that he was about to begin a surreal journey involving injured birds, enraged aviary advocates, and the possibility of spending six months behind bars and a $15,000 fine.

It all started when, while trimming trees on May 3, Pulido reportedly damaged the nests of five baby black-crowned night herons.

Pulido was reportedly asked to trim the trees by the post office because the birds were leaving their marks (and a lot of them) on mail trucks parked under the branches.

The birds fell to the ground and were injured. One's beak was broken.

A woman who captured the incident on video called the police, and a movement to punish Pulido quickly picked up steam, The New York Times reports.

Local residents demanded justice after rumors (which later proved untrue) spread that the birds were killed in a wood chipper. An online petition was created and signed by people worldwide.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service then asked the U.S. attorney's office to charge Pulido for allegedly injuring the birds, which are protected under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., thinks it has gone too far. He has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide his office with documents relating to the case against Pulido, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Continued

Feds tell Native Alaskan artist his art violates Migratory Bird Treaty Act

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA -- For hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, Natives of Southeast Alaska have paid artisans to create tools, clothing and ceremonial regalia adorned with feathers.

So contemporary Tlingit carver Archie Cavanaugh was startled last month when U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service personnel told him that items he had advertised for sale violated federal laws. Specifically: a carved hat featuring the wings and tail of a raven, and a headdress, or “shakee.át,” topped with the feathers of a flicker, a robin-size relative of the woodpecker.

“They told me that under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act they can charge me up to $10,000 and throw me in jail for a couple of years,” Cavanaugh said. “And they told me that under the Lacey Act they can charge me up to $100,000 and put me in jail for 10 years. It was very scary. I went into complete depression.”

In shock, he removed the ads from the Internet sites where they’d been posted and took the feathers off the items. But that only seemed to make the problem worse.

“They told me that I was tampering with evidence and that would be another charge,” he recounted. “I told them, 'I was just trying to comply with you guys’ request.’ ”

Cavanaugh hired an attorney and sought advice from Rosita Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Continued:  http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/16/3869092/feds-tell-native-alaska-artist.html