Wardens Sometimes Beat Odds, Nab Poachers

Worldwide, illegal hunting has brought the rhinoceros, tiger, polar bear, elephant, lion, bison, blue whale, eagle, panda, whooping crane, condor, abalone, gorilla and a thousand other species to the edge of extinction.

In the United States, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say, poaching and smuggling animals and their parts is a new, rich, secondary traffic among drug- and gunrunners; a double rhinoceros horn is worth up to $250,000.

Ounce for ounce, officials say, profits from trafficking in wildlife are higher than in cocaine.

In California, more game is taken illegally than legally, and poaching is a $100-million growth industry, state fish and game officials claim.

A poacher is any individual taking fish or game by illegal means, and the state toll is a tragedy: 75,000 deer and 110,000 abalone stolen last year. Pismo clams poached by the hundreds of thousands. Black bears killed for their gallbladders--selling for $200 an ounce as medication in some of California’s Asian communities--with claws and paws sold for ceremonial jewelry.

California is 100 million acres containing 5,000 lakes and fringed by 1,100 miles of coastline--and patrolled by only 265 game wardens working 40-hour weeks.

Fishing without a license, exceeding clam limits, taking small game with falcons, even hunting deer by spotlight are misdemeanors carrying fines and sometimes jail time for repeaters. But some district attorneys are declining to prosecute these cases, citing money and manpower shortages.

The state’s wildlife protection budget--50% of which comes from the sale of licenses and permits--has dropped from $23.1 million last year to $22.9 million this year. That’s because fewer people are hunting and fishing and buying licenses.

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Despite heavy odds, the state Department of Fish and Game has made some healthy cases:

- A Mendocino diver was recently sentenced to three years in state prison for poaching abalone. When arrested, he had 196 abalone in a secret compartment aboard his boat. The boat was confiscated.

- Two Northern California hunters have been bombarded with fines, probation, county jail time and community service for poaching more than a dozen deer in California and Nevada. They used fake names to obtain multiple hunting licenses and deer tags.

- Four Central California guides have been cited for using bait--a leaking drum of molasses tied to a tree--during a bear hunt with dogs and a paying client.

- A Susanville man has been accused of deer poaching--and assault on a warden. Four deer were found shot on posted, fenced property at the edge of a state wildlife area. When a warden investigated the scene, the suspect allegedly tried to run him down with a pickup.

- A Costa Mesa man went to jail for two years after wardens found 5,480 lobster tails--a two-week take--on his boat. The man was paying sport divers $10 a dozen and reselling the undersized lobster tails to restaurants for $20 a dozen. He lost a boat and diving gear along with his freedom.

Pursuing poachers is not safe. At least three wardens--all carrying the double warrants of federal deputy and state police officer--have died on duty. Regional patrol chief Gordon Cribbs, referring to police studies, says: “Across the board . . . the game warden profession is the most dangerous form of law enforcement.

“Because every contact we make involves someone with a knife and a gun.”

They face those knives and guns for beginning pay of $550 a week. That’s more than the $250 paid a Marine corporal in Somalia, but a lot less than the $700 paid a new cop in Los Angeles.