The other suspect, Jonathan Van Nest, 36, of New York pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in Anchorages Federal Court and was sentenced to six months probation and fined $3,500 on September 22, 1993.
The two were arrested this past summer as the result of a two-year cooperative undercover operation named Operation Duck Soup. involving the Canadian Wildlife Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service).
Dawson and Van Nest violated permit conditions including exceeding the numbers of eggs allowed, taking eggs from restricted areas and taking a threatened species, the spectacled eider. Under Federal law, permits may be issued for collection of ducks, geese, brant and swan eggs, in amounts specified by each permit.
According to charges in the case, the suspects obtained Federal and State permits authorizing the take of migratory waterfowl eggs. The permits allowed each collector to take 36 eggs, for a total of 72 eggs between them.
In June, 1993, the accused eggnappers traveled to Alaska, chartered a helicopter and flew to remote nesting areas on the North Slope, where they removed approximately 118 eggs, over 40 in excess of their permits. Among the eggs were at least a dozen eggs of spectacled eiders, which are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.
According to Service law enforcement agent Mary Jane Lavin, Van Nest and Dawson used portable incubators to transport the fragile eggs out of the wild. They hid some of the excess eggs, including the spectacled eiders, in the motor compartments.
After arresting the egg collectors, agents suddenly found themselves surrogate parents to dozens of eggs, including spectacled eiders, king eiders, brant geese, and tundra swans.
"Basically, we set up a nursery to keep the eggs warm and take care of the new hatchlings as they cracked out in Anchorage," said Agent Jim Sheridan. "Everyone really pulled together to help the young birds survive."
Biologists cared for and assisted the hatching ducklings until they could find a facility to take them. Sea World of Ohio came to the rescue of the survivors. The facility is one of few that has the ability to adequately care for such a large number of eggs and hatchlings.
According to Sea Worlds Assistant Curator of Birds, Laura Collins (who canceled her vacation twice to supervise care of the birds), 13 threatened spectacled eiders hatched successfully, and seven died. "At this point, the remaining six spectacled eiders and most of the other birds are strong and doing well," she said.
"I cant believe anyone would stoop so low as to steal eggs right out of the nests of a threatened species," Walter O. Stieglitz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director for Alaska said. "This is very upsetting to everyone, including the Spectacled Eider Recovery Team and the biologists who continue to study them between Alaska and Siberia. I intend for our agents to crack down on this type of illegal activity at every opportunity."
"Alaska is just one segment of this investigation," Lavin said. "There is illegal collecting going on all over the U.S. and I Canada."
According to Lavin, there can be big money in selling rare ducks. Some duck pairs can sell for as high as $10,000 abroad. The Service issued 15 aviculture collecting permits in Alaska this year. Agents say that of the 15, they randomly checked seven and found four in violation of the conditions of their permits. Operation Duck Soup, last year we arrested Joe Vandenburg of Canada who posted $50,000 cash bail before fleeing. He is now a fugitive," said Agent Lavin. "We are just now discovering how valuable some of these birds can be among collectors."
Service law enforcement agents estimate that there may be I hundreds of waterfowl collectors throughout the country.
According to Agent Lavin, waterfowl born and raised in captivity by licensed breeders can lawfully be sold, but birds and eggs taken from the wild cannot.
"Its like almost anything else," Stieglitz said. "A few bad ones can ruin it for everyone else."
FWS
