The Government charged that on November 23, 1994, the three men shot and wounded three trumpeter swans while waterfowl hunting on Lake Decatur, Illinois. The three young swans, or cygnets, were wild born and banded by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as part of an Endangered Species Recovery Program. The wounded swans were later captured and transported by Illinois Conservation Police Officers and volunteers of Wildlife CPR, a local wildlife rehabilitator, for treatment at the University of Illinois-College of Veterinarian Medicine in Champaign and the Minnesota Raptor Rehabilitation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Only one swan has survived the shootings.
The three subjects were fined $300.00 each plus $25.00 court cost and ordered to pay restitution of $1,000.00 each to the Wisconsin DNR - Trumpeter Swan Recovery Program. In addition, Judge Baker placed Rohman and Cambruzzi on one year supervised probation during which each hunter cannot hunt anywhere in the United States for a six-month period. Fleming received eighteen months probation and will be prohibited from hunting anywhere in the United States for one year.
Misdemeanor violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act carry maximum penalties of $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for organizations and six months imprisonment and makes it unlawful to hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect or attempt to do so involving any migratory bird protected by the MBTA unless authorized to do so.
Aided by conservation reintroductions, the trumpeter swan has made a comeback from its depleted populations. Since 1987, Wisconsin DNR has actively been involved in reintroducing these swans into the wild. Since 1989, 245 trumpeter swan eggs have been collected from Alaska and 225 cygnets were later released into Wisconsin. The three wounded swans, banded 58K, 59K and 60K, were born at Crex Meadows in Burnett County, Wisconsin and were among 25 swans born in 1994. Since the program began, nineteen swans have been shot, including an unrelated shooting near the Pecatonica River near Rockford, Illinois in 1994.
Adult trumpeter swans have a snowy white plumage differing from the dull gray plumage of the immatures. These swans, reaching weights up to 38 lbs. and 5 feet in length, can often be found wintering in Illinois. It is during winter migration that trumpeter swans are mistakenly shot during the waterfowl seasons. Timothy Santel, Special Agent with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, said: Those who cant identify waterfowl should not be pulling the trigger. Unfortunately, some shoot first and ask questions later; and there is a price to be paid for that.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
