Photo: Sara Zimorski/ Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
RAYNE, La. – After an almost two-year investigation, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement agents cited Kaenon A. Constantin, 25, and a juvenile from Rayne, for violating the Endangered Species Act, hunting from a public road and obstruction of justice.
Possible fines and sentences
Violating the Endangered Species Act brings up to a $50,000 fine and a year in jail. Hunting from a public road carries up to a $15,000 fine and six months in jail. Obstruction of justice brings up to 10 years in jail.
In 2016, Trey Joseph Frederick, III of Beaumont, TX was put on probation for shooting two endangered whooping cranes belonging to the reintroduced flock in Louisiana. Frederick’s probation prohibited him from hunting or fishing anywhere in the United States and from owning or possessing firearms or dangerous weapons. Frederick broke the terms of his probation by hunting from a vehicle with an AR-15 rifle along a Jefferson County road. He appeared in court today.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn sentenced Trey Joseph Frederick, III to 11 months confinement in Federal prison, 1 year supervised release in addition to the standard and special conditions of his original sentence for his violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of killing two Whooping Cranes of the Louisiana flock. The only exception is that he waived the 200 hours of community service.
The reason for waiving the community service is that he wants all of his time, when he is released, working to obtain the money to pay the original restitution of $12,907.50 each to the International Crane Foundation and to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
Kudos to The Honorable Joe Batte, the prosecuting attorney and to US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, The Honorable Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn for pursuing this case and seeing that justice was served.
Also, special thanks to all agencies and individuals who rendered their time and efforts to investigate this case. The sending of letters and the courtroom attendance of members of the Golden Triangle Audubon Society, the Houston Audubon Society as well as the International Crane Foundation was recognized by Judge Hawthorn in supporting his decision.
Special thanks for those attending today: Edra Bogucki, Sheila Hebert, John Park, Debbie Bradshaw, Joanna Friesen, Barbara Tilton, Houston Sliger, and Sherrie Roden.
It has come to my attention that the Jefferson County District Attorney, the Honorable Bob Wortham has the intentions of pursuing a case against Frederick for hunting while his hunting license was revoked or denied. It is important that we have a letter writing campaign on that matter. His mailing address is:
Honorable Bob Wortham
Criminal District Attorney
1085 Pearl Street Suite 300
Beaumont, Texas 77701
FOTWW would like to thank Sherrie Roden for allowing us to use her account of today’s court proceedings.
A Gueydan man pleaded guilty on July 7 in Federal Court in Lafayette for migratory bird violations that occurred in Vermilion Parish.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries photo
Judge Carol B. Whitehurst of the Western District Court accepted the guilty plea of Lane T. Thibodeaux, 21, for taking a whooping crane for which there is no season, taking migratory game birds out of season, from a moving vehicle and without a Louisiana hunting license, and wanton waste of migratory game birds. Judge Whitehurst sentenced Thibodeaux to serve 45 days in Federal Prison for each of the five convictions to run concurrently and a $2,500 fine. He must pay his fine in full within one year or he will have to serve 45 days in Federal Prison for each of the five convictions to run consecutively.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) enforcement agents began investigating a whooping crane that was found in a field just north of Gueydan off of Zaunbrecher Rd. with a gunshot wound in its left leg on Nov. 4, 2014. The crane was transported to the LSU Veterinary School where it had to be euthanized because of its gunshot injury.
Through the course of the investigation agents were able to ascertain information from confidential informants that told them Thibodeaux was the person that shot the whooping crane. Agents were able to obtain a search warrant for Thibodeaux’s phone and then collect videos and photos showing Thibodeaux shooting migratory game birds from a vehicle off of a public road near the area where the whooping crane was found. The phone also contained information of Thibodeaux being involved in illegal narcotic activity, which was turned over to the Vermilion Parish Narcotics Task Force.
During the investigation agents also learned that Thibodeaux threatened the informants to not give any information to LDWF agents about the whooping crane he shot. Agents arrested Thibodeaux on charges of felony witness intimidation on March 4, 2015 and those charges are still pending at this time.
The crane in this case had been released in January of 2014. LDWF is working cooperatively with the USFWS, USGS, the International Crane Foundation and the Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit to bring the species back to the state. This non-migratory flock of whooping cranes is designated as a non-essential, experimental population but is protected under state law, the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The confidential informants will split a reward for their information that led to the arrest and conviction of Thibodeaux. The reward money consisted of $1,000 each from LDWF’s Operation Game Thief program and the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation; $5,000 from The Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust; and $3,000 from anonymous donors.
The lead LDWF investigative agent for this case was Senior Agent Derek Logan with assistance from Lt. Beau Robertson and Sgt. David Sanford. The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab and PC Recovery in Lafayette assisted with collecting the data from the seized cell phones. The Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office also assisted with the execution of warrants.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
Whooping cranes are on the U.S. Endangered Species List and that means, well, less than you’d think. Photo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
In case anyone was wondering how much a dead whooping crane is worth, we now have a number to work with thanks to Trevor Frederick’s sentencing on Tuesday for killing two whooping cranes in Jefferson County earlier this year.
Back in January two whooping cranes were shot and killed. After the bodies of the endangered birds were discovered in Jefferson County, further investigation revealed that Trey Frederick, then 18, of Beaumont, had been seen in the area toting a hunting rifle. Frederick claimed he was hunting geese, which would make sense except for the fact that geese are the size of very large ducks while whooping cranes grow up to be about five feet tall and with a wingspan of roughly seven feet.
When federal investigators contacted Frederick he admitted to killing the birds and was subsequently arrested and charged with violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as we reported. Whooping cranes are migratory birds and are protected under the federal law, making it illegal to capture, kill, or attempt to capture or kill them in the United States.
On Tuesday, Frederick was convicted of the killings, which makes sense, since he admitted it right from the beginning.
He faced possible fines of up to $15,000 per bird and up to six months in federal prison, but federal District Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn actually only sentenced Frederick to:
$25,850 in restitution to be shared among the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the International Crane Foundation.
200 hours of community service (the most ever ordered by this court, according to the International Crane Foundation), with the time to be spent with Texas Parks and Wildlife or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Five years probation.
An order that Frederick turn over all firearms.
A five-year suspension of his hunting license in all 50 states.
In other words, while Hawthorn didn’t send Frederick, now 19, to prison, perhaps Frederick is now aware it’s a bad idea to kill any endangered species — and he’ll have a lot of time to reflect on that while he isn’t hunting the next five years.
However, the math on this is still a bit troubling.
After all, the endangered species list was practically invented for whooping cranes. It’s believed there were once more than 15,000 whoopers in North America, but their numbers dwindled to fewer than 1,400 in 1860. By 1941 there were only about 15 whooping cranes left in the wild, the vestiges of a naturally migrating flock that has been moving between Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in South Texas for centuries.
From there, conservationists started working to build up the flock, pushed lawmakers to pass legislation to protect the birds and started establishing other flocks across the country, with varying levels of success. There are now about 600 whoopers left in the world, with 450 of them in the wild.
Efforts have been made to increase their numbers, but it’s been a difficult path forward. Back in 2008 and 2009, about 23 whoopers died in the middle of the Texas drought after the rate of freshwater flowing into the bay system dropped, screwing up the supply of the blue crabs and wolfberries the birds feed on. On top of that, these birds tend to get shot. Over the past five years, despite their protected status, more than 20 whooping cranes have been shot and killed in the United States, according to the International Crane Foundation.
The pair of whoopers Frederick shot and killed came from a new flock, established in Louisiana in 2011 with ten young birds. The flock has about 30 whoopers now. And here’s the thing: It’s not exactly cheap to raise these birds and release them into the wild. The International Crane Foundation recommended fining Frederick about $113,000 per bird, since that would cover the cost of raising the whooping cranes in human care and then reintroducing them into the wild to join the Louisiana flock.
“The shooter did not just illegally kill two birds; he stole an intensive monetary investment by federal and state governments and nonprofit organizations in the United States and Canada, as well as, saddened and outraged the public through this thoughtless and brazen act,” wrote Liz Smith, Texas program director of the International Crane Foundation, in a letter to Judge Hawthorn.
But, obviously, that’s not what happened. Instead, the dead birds have been valued at $12,925 each, judging by Frederick’s sentence.
The International Crane Foundation held up this sentence as the judge’s throwing the book at a whooping crane killer, but we have to disagree. Considering the number of cranes in the world, the cost of raising and releasing even one whooper into the wild and the price Frederick is paying, it seems like he’s getting quite a bargain.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
