Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COURTS : Whistling Swan Shot; Hunters Face Charges
It may have been the swan song for two Newport Beach hunters who have been ordered to appear in a Riverside County court next month. They must answer charges that they shot a whistling swan in violation of state law, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game said.
Bernhart Robert E. Pautsch, 66, and Lawrence R. Harris, 58, were arrested by wardens at a hunt club near Hemet after one of several other hunters who witnessed the shooting used the Fish and Game Department’s toll-free hot line, Cal-TIP (California Turn In Poachers), to notify authorities.
While whistling swans are not on the federal list of endangered species, department spokesman Pat Moore said they are protected under two sections of the state code because of their status as migratory non-game birds.
“Whistling swans are large, mostly white birds, often with a wing span of seven feet,” Moore said. “They winter along the southern parts of the Pacific Coast and are seldom seen because their numbers just aren’t all that great.”
Moore said Pautsch and Harris were cited for one misdemeanor count each. They were ordered to appear Jan. 14 in Mount San Jacinto Municipal Court.
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