Wilmoth, operator of Wild Wilderness Safari animal park in Gentry, was charged last November with brokering the illegal sale of four protected tigers to buyers in Missouri where they were killed. The tigers hides and parts were then sold. The buyers, Todd and Vicki Lantz of Cape Girardeau, Mo., pleaded guilty to conspiracy and Lacey Act violations in February and are scheduled to be sentenced in Cape Girardeau June 24.
Wilmoth is the second person to be sentenced as a result of Operation Snow Plow, an undercover investigation into illegal trafficking of federally-protected tigers and leopards by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In January 2001, Woody Thompson Jr., of Three Rivers, Mich., was sentenced after pleading guilty to brokering the sale of three tiger skins. He was sentenced to six months home detention, fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $28,000 to the Save the Tiger Fund.
The 18-month investigation has resulted in federal charges being filed against 17 defendants in six states. (Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan and Illinois). On May 1, a federal court in Chicago indicted six Chicago-area men, a Wisconsin man, and a suburban Chicago exotic meat market for their roles in the illegal killing and sale of tigers, leopards and their parts. In November 2001, a federal court in Ann Arbor charged three Detroit-area men with illegally buying hides of protected tigers.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principle 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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 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 service 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 more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, visit our home page at http://midwest.fws.gov">
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