The State - News from May 11, 1988

The owner of a goldfish farm south of Merced is under investigation for illegally shooting hundreds of migratory birds that sometimes feed in the fish ponds, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent said. The investigation of Carpenter’s Gold Fish Farm is continuing and Justice Department lawyers will decide if charges will be filed, agent Mark Webb said. The farm’s owner, Tom Carpenter, was not available for comment. Carpenter obtained a permit in 1984 and in 1986 to shoot 50 protected birds each year, Webb said. The birds included great blue herons, black crowned night herons, snowy egrets and great egrets. Lydia Miller, president of the San Joaquin Raptor-Wildlife Rescue Center in Merced, said a large number of birds found near the farm were brought into the center with gunshot wounds.