DAVID McFADDEN
Associated Press
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A judge in Trinidad & Tobago has aggrieved conservationists by dismissing charges against a couple who were found with 55 protected animals caged at their home amid a no-trapping, no-hunting moratorium in the Caribbean nation.
In dropping the case, Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas Ragoonanan ordered authorities to return the seized birds, turtles and a monkey to the couple in central Freeport, but told forestry officials to periodically inspect the animals. The judge reprimanded the wife after she pleaded guilty to dozens of charges, but then dismissed those charges, officials said Thursday. The husband, a retired police officer, had pleaded not guilty.
“On the face of it the judge’s ruling makes a mockery of the intent of the law,” said Christopher Starr, life sciences faculty member at Trinidad’s University of the West Indies.
Last year, Environment Minister Ganga Singh transformed, at least on paper, Trinidad’s hinterlands into a no-hunting zone to give overexploited animals some breathing room and to conduct wildlife surveys to inform policies. Conservationists long argued that the wide-ranging freedoms enjoyed by hunters were depleting wildlife in the twin-island republic, which is home to more than 100 mammals and is famed as a bird-watcher’s paradise.
Under the two-year moratorium, fines were raised for possessing or hunting protected animals without a special license from about $155 and three months imprisonment to about $7,840 and three months imprisonment for each protected animal.
Activists said the courts are clearly not following the government’s guidelines.
“The game wardens did a great job investigating this case. Their morale must be crushed, and their job made a bit harder, now that a message has been sent to wildlife offenders that they can do the crime without having to do the time,” said Marc de Verteuil, director of Trinidad’s Papa Bois Conservation group.
A statement from Trinidad’s environment ministry said citizens are still being urged to report illegal hunting, distribution and consumption of game and protected species by calling a wildlife hotline.
___
David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcfadd
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
