In June 1998, agents with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service observed Elam transport two tigers and three leopards (one black leopard and two spotted leopards) from Oklahoma to Missouri. Elam then met with an undercover federal agent posing as an exotic animal dealer near a highway rest stop in New Florence, Mo.. Elam sold the cats to the agent for $4,800. then falsified required U.S. Department of Agriculture forms declaring the illegal sale to be a donation. Both the sale and the falsification of documents are felony violations of the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law.
Elam, former owner of Power House Wildlife Sanctuary in Ft. Gibson, entered guilty pleas before Judge Charles Shaw at the U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Elam is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7. Each violation is a felony violation of the Lacey Act, and carries a maximum penalty of five years confinement and fines of up to $250,000.
Elam was one of five people indicted last November following a lengthy undercover investigation by special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Service investigators, working closely with U.S. Attorneys Offices in Missouri, Illinois and Michigan, uncovered a group of residents and small business owners in the Midwest that allegedly bought and killed exotic tigers, leopards, snow leopards, lions, mountain lions, cougars, mixed breed cats and black bears with the intention of introducing meat and skins into the lucrative animal parts trade.
In February, three of the individuals -- Todd H. Lantz, his wife Vicki L. Lantz of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Freddy M Wilmoth of Gentry, Ark.--pleaded guilty to conspiracy and Endangered Species Act charges for illegally trafficking of four endangered tigers in 1998. Todd H. Lantz owner of Lazy L Exotics in Cape Girardeau, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, a felony. Vicki L. Lantz, pleaded guilty to aiding in the sale of the four tigers, a misdemeanor violation of the Endangered Species Act. Freddy M. Wilmoth pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the transportation of an endangered species into commerce, also a misdemeanor violation of the Endangered Species Act. The maximum penalty for misdemeanor violations of the Endangered Species Act is one year confinement and/or fines up to $100,000.
Sentencing for Todd and Vicki Lantz and Freddy Wilmoth is scheduled for May 20 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Tigers are listed as "Endangered" under the federal Endangered Species Act. The law also protects leopards, which are classified as either "endangered" or "threatened" depending on the location of the wild population. Although federal regulations allow possession of captive-bred tigers, the regulations stipulate activities involving their use must be to enhance the propagation or survival of the species. It is unlawful to kill the animals for profit, or to sell their hides, parts or meats into interstate commerce.
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 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 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.
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