I'm feeling sick to my stomach this morning. My property is bordered on one side by a stream that flows down into the Connecticut River. Everyday I watch birds (herons, kingfishers, and occasionally ospreys and bald eagles) fly over my yard towards the two upstream fish hatcheries where they try to get an easy meal. One of those hatcheries is a state owned facility that protects its stock of trout with netting. The other is a privately owned facility whose owners chose to spend their money on bullets instead.
This morning's local paper carried a very disturbing article about the slaughter of hundreds of protected migratory birds at this private fish hatchery.
Recorder Federal authorities have charged two area men with killing hundreds of blue herons, a bald eagle and other protected migratory birds at a commercial trout hatchery in Sunderland [MA].
Arrested Thursday were hatchery owner Michael Zak Jr., 58, of 467 Amherst Road in Sunderland, and Timothy Lloyd, 29, of 115 Park St., Easthampton.
The pair have been charged with violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It was unclear Friday night whether the men were still in custody.
The criminal complaint alleges that federal agents found "more than 250 great blue heron carcasses," as well as the bodies of about 10 ospreys and one bald eagle on the grounds of the Mohawk Trout Hatchery, a business owned by Zak and which lies behind his home.
The extent of the damage done is significant. There are only about 900 Great Blue Herons in the western part of the state and these two fools killed over 250 of them.
Wayne R. Petersen, of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said that he would be surprised if there are more than 900 great blue herons in the western half of the state.
...snip...
"The population has greatly increased, but the loss of 250 birds would be notable wherever it took place," he said.
Petersen also noted that the herons that were shot this spring were killed during nesting season and thus while they were trying to feed their young.
"This, of course raises the mortality level because, if the parents are killed the young are going to starve," he said.
Fortunately we still have strong federal laws protecting migratory birds and the Feds have gathered some very strong evidence against the suspects. Violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, signed when we still had a government that participated in international treaties, carries penalties of up to six months jail time and $15,000 per bird killed.
In the complaint filed against the two men in U.S. District Court, federal Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Thomas Ricardi says that he and other agents actually watched Zak kill some of the birds as they sat in trees near the fish ponds and the concrete raceway between them.
...snip...
According to the court filings, a necropsy was performed on a random sample of the bird carcasses recovered from the hatchery grounds and the examiner found that all of them had been killed by gunfire.
"Small caliber bullets, such as .223, .222, .22-50 or .22 Magnum were recovered from the carcasses. Several of the fragments were large enough to conduct ballistic comparisons to the rifles from which they were fired," Ricardi wrote.
I applaud these federal agents for the great work they've done to uncover these crimes and bring these men to justice.
On Thursday I celebrated Endangered Species Day. Today I'm feeling angry and disgusted.