WhoopingCrane_Poaching_Hamilton_Ann_HoustonTX_6June2020_Reel4016.mp3

Ann Hamilton [00:00:00] People for some reason shoot these birds. And that's a tragedy, truly. And if you shoot a whooping crane, you're in big trouble because it's endangered and you can, you can literally go to jail. And we've had one such case in Texas and Louisiana that had had to go to trial.

Ann Hamilton [00:00:28] I went over there to Beaumont. Yeah, I went with Liz and we went together and thankfully a lot of the local Audubon, and I should have said this earlier, some of the local Audubon Societies have been very, very with us in these questions. That Gulf, what is it, the Golden Triangle Audubon Society, I think it's called, were there in full force in the courtroom when this Trey Frederick was brought to trial and that judge took note. We were all sitting there. We didn't testify or anything but we were sitting there in that hearing. And he surely took note.

Ann Hamilton [00:01:14] There was evidence that were sent to the judge before the trial that showed how much money it cost to breed a whooping crane. And it's upwards of a hundred thousand dollars. And so we were, through the national Fish and Wildlife Service, we were asking that, that we be compensated, that population be compensated.

Ann Hamilton [00:01:42] And he was, he was fined 25,000 dollars and put on probation for five years. His gun rights were taken away from him.

Ann Hamilton [00:01:54] He was a very young man. And I don't know. We talked to him out in the hallway and Liz Smith sat right next to him and said, "Why did you do this?"

Ann Hamilton [00:02:07] And he said, "Well, I didn't know the difference between these birds, between them, you know, a whooping crane and whatever, a goose."

Ann Hamilton [00:02:22] He, he, he wanted to shoot something. So he shot it.

Ann Hamilton [00:02:26] And it was found and, and they caught him, and put him on trial and he was sentenced and put on probation.

Ann Hamilton [00:02:37] And then, by God, he broke his probation and he took a bunch of people out hunting and they caught him again. He was hunting feral hogs, and I guess that's not so bad. But breaking your probation is bad. So. I think he's in jail now, for sure, because, because he broke probation. The judge was very harsh in his sentence of this guy. He was, he was pretty hard on him.

Ann Hamilton [00:03:15] So that's the story of that trial and there have been several since. But it's gotten the attention of people: you don't shoot a whooping crane and get away with it anymore.