DALLAS
MAN SENTENCED TO 6 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
FOR KILLING WHOOPING CRANE
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MAY 14, 2004
United States Attorney Jane J. Boyle announced that Dallas resident,
Donald W. Jones, was sentenced today by the Honorable Jerry Buchmeyer,
United States Senior District Judge, to six months imprisonment and
ordered to pay a $2000 fine, following his guilty plea in February
2004
to transporting wildlife taken and possessed in violation of law,
in violation of 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1) and 3373(d)(2).
Jones was also ordered to surrender all hunting privileges in the
United States. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on July
19, 2004.
Jones
admitted that on November 14, 2003, he knowingly transported various
species of migratory birds, including a whooping crane, a Gadwall,
a blue-winged teal and a northern shoveler, when he knew the wildlife
was taken and possessed in violation of law, specifically the
Migratory
Bird Treaty Act. Jones admitted that on November 14, 2003, a
day that the regular Texas waterfowl hunting season was closed, he
was duck
hunting at Lake Bardwell in Ellis County, Texas. Lake Bardwell
lies in a geographical zone of Texas closed to all crane hunting. At
approximately 6:30 p.m., a Texas Game Warden (TGW) contacted Jones
as Jones was preparing his boat and truck to depart from Lake Bardwell.
In response to the TGW's questions about what wildlife had been
taken,
Jones volunteered that he had killed three ducks. The TGW then
observed a blue-winged teal, a hen shoveler, and a gadwall in the front
of Jones' boat. The TGW asked Jones if he had killed any other wildlife,
and Jones
responded, "No." The TGW then began to examine various
bags inside Jones' boat and truck and discovered a zippered bag
containing a dead whooping crane underneath a piece of camouflage burlap.
When questioned, Jones responded that he had always wanted to shoot a
sandhill crane and admitted that he shot the whooping crane by mistake,
believing it to be a sandhill crane.
According
to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whooping cranes are also listed
as endangered under federal law. The crane recovered
from Jones is believed to be one of four spotted in the Lake Bardwell
area, south of Dallas, during the week of November 10, 2003. Biologists
believe that the three remaining birds that remained in the area
resumed their annual migration south for the winter. There are an
estimated 400
wild whooping cranes within the United States. The other waterfowl
in Jones'
possession —Gadwall, blue-winged teal, and northern shoveler —are
species that can legally be hunted during the waterfowl season in
Texas. That season, however, was not open when the birds were killed.
U.S. Atorney Boyle praised the investigative efforts of agents of the
USFWS and game wardens with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The
case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark D. McBride.
Journey
North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible
by the Whooping
Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).
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