|
|
|
|
National Tree Day Planet Ark Home
|
|
|
||
|
Texan Pleads Innocent to Killing Whooping Crane |
||
|
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version
|
||
| USA: December 19, 2003 | ||
|
DALLAS - A 48-year-old Texas man pleaded not guilty this week to shooting dead a whooping crane, one of the world's rarest birds.
|
||
|
Donald Jones faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine on federal charges of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by killing the endangered species. His trial is scheduled to start in early February. The crane apparently was shot Nov. 14 at a lake near Dallas while the bird was making its annual winter migration from Canada to Texas, wildlife officials said. News reports said a game warden caught Jones with the dead crane, which is protected as an endangered species, and three ducks which had been shot out of season. Jones was not available for comment at the court but the Dallas Morning New has reported him as saying he accidentally shot the bird after he misidentified it. There are only about 200 of the white, 4-foot-tall cranes left in the wild, experts say. They winter at a Texas reserve after a 2,500-mile flight from Canada. At his arraignment Jones waived having the indictment against read him in court, and when asked by Federal Magistrate Judge Paul Stickney if his plea was not guilty, he responded, "Yes, sir."
|
||
|
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
|
||
|
