Feds Prosecuting Tree-Trimmer for Unintentionally Bruising Herons

 

 

 

"The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is questioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the agency’s decision to prosecute a tree-trimmer who accidentally knocked herons out of a tree.

Ernest Pulido is expected to face charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office within a week for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. He could face a maximum fine of $15,000 and six months in jail.

Pulido was hired by the U.S. Postal Service to prune trees May 3 outside an Oakland, Calif., branch, where postal officials were upset with birds pooping on mail trucks. 

 

One branch that Pulido cut contained nesting black-crowned night herons, one of more than 1,000 species of birds protected under the act."

[pj Tatler]