Posted by:
W von Papineäu
at Thu Jul 31 11:09:59 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by W von Papineäu ]
HERALD-LEADER (Lexington, Kentucky) 26 July 08 Editorial: Crackdown on reptile trafficking deserves praise
The arrest of a snake-handling church's preacher in Middlesboro for trafficking in reptiles made news worldwide.
(Yep, more good publicity for Kentucky.)
But the arrest had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with biology.
Commercializing wildlife is the first step on the road to extinction. That's why it's illegal to buy and sell wild animals and plants except under certain permitted conditions.
The Internet has vastly expanded the illicit market for wildlife. It has also expanded the range of non-native species that invade and disrupt natural habitats. Not to mention the risk to people and pets from keeping dangerous wildlife in homes and neighborhoods or, when the animals can't be domesticated, releasing them into the wild.
When Kentucky conservation officers dipped a line into the Internet market, the first big bite was from reptile sellers. Investigators spent almost two years on ”Twice Shy.“ Their work led to the seizure of western diamondback rattlesnakes, timber rattlers, cottonmouth water moccasins, northern and southern copperheads, cobras, great basin rattlesnakes, a gaboon viper, a puff adder and an alligator.
Officers purchased more than 200 reptiles as they built cases against 11 people in Bell, Harlan, Madison, Letcher and Boone counties.
The most prominent of those was Gregory James Coots, pastor of a Middlesboro church where a Tennessee woman died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service in 1995.
Coots, who faced more than 150 counts of illegally buying, selling and possessing wildlife, has already pleaded guilty in Bell County to seven counts and received a $6,400 fine and two years of probation. Officers seized 74 snakes from his Middlesboro home.
He got off easy, considering that each charge carried a fine up to $1,000 and a year in prison.
Hats off to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is carving out a reputation as a leader in breaking up Internet wildlife trafficking. Now if someone would just crack down on the wild plant traffickers who are robbing Kentucky of its botanical heritage.
And for the record, it's perfectly legal to catch venomous snakes in Kentucky and to keep up to five for your personal use, whatever that might be.
Editorial: Crackdown on reptile trafficking deserves praise
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KY Press: Smuggler crackdown praised - W von Papineäu, Thu Jul 31 11:09:59 2008