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                                                                                                         Update

Fish and Wildlife have been taking wildlife rehabilitators and their volunteers to court for over a decade in hopes to achieve a ruling such as this.  The Division of Fish & Wildlife was finally successful.

Superior Court Judge, Charles Middlesworth Jr. of Atlantic County Superior Court, recently ruled that anyone possessing wildlife is the same as if they possessed contra ban.  I was found guilty of possession even though our volunteer group transfers wildlife to a licensed facility. I was fined $7500. 

This ruling affects all the citizens in the State of New Jersey in not allowing anyone to rescue orphaned or injured wildlife.  Citizens may now be fined or possibly arrested for doing so.  The Judge stated that no one may possess wildlife for one moment, for any reason.

Marybeth Bennett

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Other wildlife rehabilitators had their animals taken and killed by F&G.  One man in Central Jersey had his raccoons taken from their cages and put in carriers.  Bill Sleight, the rehabber, tried to help his raccoons as they reached their arms through the cage to him for help, but the conservation officers jumped him and held him at gun point.  They took the raccoons and put them in animal carriers, turned the carriers to face each other, and shot them through the carriers.  After that story I started the Animal Rehabilitation Alliance (ARA).  A decade ago there were over 130 licensed rehabilitators throughout the state.  Some cared for birds, others deer, or raccoon, or a combination of animals.  Now there are 23 throughout the entire state.  F&G has purposely eradicated rehabbers/ volunteers from helping the public with injured and orphaned wildlife.  This gap now leaves the public to handle the wildlife themselves or not at all.  No one wants to see the injured animals die; this is not good for the public or the animal.  It is a matter of conscience and public safety and the division seems to ignore that.

My first raptor was a Red tail hawk. Tonya showed me how to properly handle and care for the injured hawk (Lancelot). Lancelot had swollen feet, head, and lay down to sleep.  She showed me proper techniques on how to medicate and feed him.  I had the Ophthalmologist take a look at his eyes. The doctor was able to save the vision in one eye, but not the other. Lancelot made a full recovery from his other injuries.  He was a friendly bird, and became a wonderful lecture bird. His non-perfect condition dictated his need for care throughout the rest of his life.  Another bird I came across was an injured crow which was hit by a car and left in a trash can to die.  I was able to save the vision in one of his eyes, but the other was not salvageable because it became infected by fungus from the trash can. The antibiotics killed the fungus, but the vision was lost.  His wing had been broken and unfortunately it never properly healed and thus was not useable.  One of the crow’s legs was in perfect condition but the other had been attacked by maggots, which ate much of his muscle tissue by the time he was discovered alive in the trash.  His name was Mr. Messy, and the children loved him.  Not only did they respond to a bird they saw everyday outdoors, but they related to him being handicapped since the children knew handicapped children that attended their schools. That bird had such a will to live!

Although my avian rehabilitation license was not renewed, I still received calls from the public, and law enforcement officers such as local police, State Police and etc.  There was no one in the area but me to help people with injured birds.

The caging area where I kept the birds was on a 9 acre property 250 feet back off the road. It was not visible from the house on the front of the property or visible from the road.  A disgruntled tenant who was renting the house had not pay his rent and was brought up on animal cruelty charges for allowing a cat to starve to death. He was to be evicted from the house and in anger called NJ F&G and reported my caging area.

On October 30^TH 2004 F&G took all of my birds including Lancelot and Mr. Messy (they did not touch the pigeons as they are not regulated species). F&G, later that day killed all of them! I was told by F&G that none of the birds had the right to live.

I started going to fundraisers that I knew politicians would be attending.  Sometimes I didn’t know what the function was; I just wanted to meet people who may be able to help wildlife rehabilitators like me.  I made many friends, and was invited to come to the yearly event in Atlantic City held by the NJ Conference of Mayors (NJCM).  There I met Gary Shute, Regional Vice President of BP Energy. Gary and I became friends.  He took me too many different events introduced me to many people including Governor Corzine.  BP even paid for brochures designed and printed for the ARA.  Eventually Gary retired but I met a wonderful man named Barry Lefkowitz over two years ago.  We were introduced by a mutual friend at the NJCM Convention.  Barry has been a lobbyist for 40 years.   He believed in our cause and took me under his wing and taught me much about the political world and how it worked.  Little by little I met more politicians and developed relationships with them.  I didn’t realize how many nice people existed in Trenton.

 Because of the incident in 2004, I was given summons and dragged into court by NJ F&G and I was fined.  It’s ridiculous because the judges are not familiar with NJ F&G laws which are very vague and can be interpreted any way they so desire.  I still conduct rescues for injured birds with a few volunteers.  Sometimes we cannot transfer the bird to a licensed facility right away because we weren’t available due to working. We had to use the caging area temporarily until the bird can be transported by me or one of the volunteers.   The nearest facility is in Medford, which is about an hour and 20 minutes from where I live and have the caging area.

While learning to mingle politically, my mentor Barry has guided me on how to change the law and regulations, thus I recently drafted an outline for a legislative bill to pull the wildlife rehabilitators from the oversight of NJ F&G and put them under the veterinarians.  The Office of Legislative Services at the behest of Assemblyman John Burzichelli, our Prime Sponsor, wrote the bill language according to my outline; the bill was recently dropped into the Assembly and assigned a number, A3695.  I am still waiting on the Senate number to be assigned.  It has been a lot of hard work to get to this point, and I could never have done it without Barry, who became my best friend.  Although the legislation has been introduced, we are waiting for the Committee Hearings to be scheduled. Once we get the bill passed by both Houses of the legislature we will lobby the Governor to sign it into law.  There is still much work to be done to get the bill passed, however.

In the past I along with other wildlife rehabilitators and other supporters with the same concerns had met with NJ F&G, and Commissioner Lisa Jackson (who at the time was head of DEP which oversees F&G).  We were always told they would work on cooperation between the division and the rehabbers, but nothing ever happened.  We were all yes’d to death and ignored.  I continued my political quest in hopes to make a difference.  F&G were furious with my actions and again they visited the caging area trespassing on private property.   They observed two raptors to be transported to a rehabilitation center.  They took photos with their phone, then got a warrant to set up surveillance and recorded me caring for a number of pigeons out at the property.  When they arrived with search warrants on Thursday May 27, 2009 a month later, both birds had been transferred (we transfer them as soon as possible), I had received another great horned owl to be transferred late Tuesday night May 25, 2009. There is a 48 hour time period to transfer a bird out of one’s possession under the “Good Samaritan Law.”

 NJ F&G is very angry about my political activity and have acted in retaliation.  I was charged again with two counts of possession of regulated species and illegal transport.  In court the judge allowed the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) for F&G to amend the illegal transport charge to illegal liberation since the statue they tried to prosecute me with didn’t apply. The two charges of possession were dismissed, and I was fined $1000 for illegal liberation that no one can prove.  First I transferred it, then when that didn’t suit their needs I released it, well which is it?

I am to now appear in Superior Court as F&G is appealing the dismissal.  This appeal can be done all the way through The Appellate Court Division through The Supreme Court.  F&G has a 10 year statute of limitation which allows them to charge me at any time with anything they want to throw at me for 9 more years dating back to the most recent incident.  At this moment F&G are trying to charge me with criminal punishment instead of a civil state suit. That penalty would be 3-5 years in prison, and up to $800,000 in fines by their calculation for helping an injured bird.  The scary part is that if they lose in all the various courts, they can recharge me with a Federal statute to try me all over again (because of the 10 year statute of limitation).  When does it stop?  How much of State money are they wastefully spending on this case? They are trying to financially squeeze me to drop the legislation, but I will not.  Many rehabilitators present and former are counting on me.

October 30, 2004 has opened my eyes to the injustices which people in specific power positions can abuse innocent, good people who help their communities and give back to the earth.  I will carry the explicit memory of that day with me the rest of my life.  The horrible experience of such cruelty and stupidity of October 30, 2004 taught me to understand what the Jewish people went through in Nazi Germany.  In comparison it wasn’t people that the conservation officers abused and killed as in Germany, but they were my babies, members of my family that I swore to protect, keep healthy and safe.  I loved all of them, and they appreciated me; this I could tell by their disposition to me.  This experience has made me a harder, determined, more intellectually strategic person to carry out what is right.  I will continue to fight the wrong doings and try to correct them no matter what the cost.  The Division of Fish & Game is out of control. They do what they want when they want and they make up and enforce the rules as they go along.  This bill, A3695, will take their power away from F&G and allow wildlife rehabilitators the right to rehabilitate injured wildlife without fear or intimidation; there will be no more animals killed under F&G’s reign of terror, and those animals which have died in the past (Mr. Messy, Lancelot and others) will not have died in vein.  When it is all done and said the world will be a better place; the foundation will have been laid for others to be motivated, taught and successfully grow to do good work without fear.

Marybeth Bennett

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Tweety showed his intelligence quickly. He would stand on a chair in the kitchen and allow me to give him his medicine every day until the medicines were finished.  He was very smart.  Tweety had freedom of the house.  He would stay on my screened in porch all day, and in the evening I would open the door and tell him it was sleepy time.  Tweety would then fly through the house maneuvering himself sideways to fly through doorways on his venture into the bedroom.  There he would sleep on a clothes basket I set it up for him with his food and water in it.  (It was Tonya’s suggestion).  Tweety would sleep all night, but at 5:30am his routine called for him to go into the living room and sit in front of the glass door for about an hour before he went on the porch.  If I was not awake to let him out of the room, he would fly up and land on my husband’s chest while he was sleeping and stare at him.  My husband would then wake me and tell me my bird wanted to get up, and I would let him out of the room.  Tweety stayed for about a year, and one spring day decided to fly off.  I never saw him again.  What a wonderful bird.  Later the neighborhood children brought me an orphaned Blue Jay, and I phoned Tonya.  She gave me specific instructions on how to raise the bird.  I followed the instructions to the “T” and raised the bird until it was old enough to be released.  This experience for me was extremely successful and rewarding.  I had named the bird “Baby Blue”.

Word of mouth had spread that I took care of injured birds.  I received birds from as far south as Cape May and north to Mystic Island.  I would get calls all times of the day and evening.  Because of my passion, I started a non-profit organization called the St. Francis Avian Rehabilitation Center.   I was raised a Catholic and thought the name appropriate.  I learned that I needed a State and Federal license to care for injured regulated birds, so I applied to the State of NJ Division of Fish & Game who oversees the program to get my certification.  I had to undergo almost a complete year of training in Tabernacle NJ.  It took me an hour and 20 minutes to get there on my only day off from my full time job to do their required training.  The woman there was more raccoon oriented, and was hardly knowledgeable on birds.  I had more knowledge from hands on with Tonya.

Tonya helped me to identify the birds coming in, and she showed me how to identify broken wings, and wrap them.  I learned to care for and treat broken legs, spinal injuries, illness, head trauma, internal bleeding etc.  Since I was a NJ Licensed Optician, and had my own Optical Store, I worked with an Ophthalmologist which treated all types of eye injuries.  I don’t want to brag but treating eye injuries is my forte.

I eventually finished my apprenticeship as required by the State of NJ Division of Fish & Game and received a State License for avian rehabilitation for 1 year, and a Federal license for 2 years.  When I was licensed I started talking to other wildlife rehabilitators and found out about them having their licenses revoked for no reason. Inspections of wildlife rehabilitation facilities were given by NJ F&G for wildlife rehabbers. They would be told that everything was fine and yet later they would receive notification that their facility was horrible, out of compliance and they were to be shut down.  The majority of wildlife rehabilitators work out of their homes as volunteers and work full time jobs to support their efforts.  No paperwork was ever left with a rehabilitator at the time of inspection.  I myself was inspected five times during a one year period. The conservation officers would not just inspect the room where I had the birds, but they would go through my bedroom, through my underwear drawer, through my curio cabinet, and etc. When I questioned why they were doing that I was told that they are law enforcement and could do whatever they wanted.  They told me they wanted to make sure I didn’t have any species I wasn’t supposed to take care for.  My question was why would I hide it in my curio or any other place?

I tolerated this treatment for a year because I was told by other rehabbers that if you stood up to them F&G would revoke your permit.  The last inspection I told them that my lawyer had advised me that inspectors (conservation officers) were only permitted to inspect the area where the birds are kept, not search my entire house.  My permit was not renewed after that, nor would they sign off on the Federal Permit when it was sent to them for renewal at the end of 2002.

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October 30^TH 2004 was the most horrifying experience I have ever had!  I have heard the stories of what happened to other people, but I never thought it would happen to me. My story and their stories are why I started another non-profit organization for helping injured wildlife, to put an end to anyone going through this ever again.  The Conservation Officers from New Jersey Fish and Game were like Nazi’s.  I stood helpless as I watched them violently take my birds.  They had no knowledge and could care less how they were handling them.  I stood at the front of the cage with three large conservation officers in front of me with their hands on their guns threatening to cuff me and arrest me if I try to rescue any of the birds!  As I looked toward the cage, I saw one of the officers holding one of my Red tail Hawks by its feet upside down like a chicken.  Its head was bleeding and its wings expanded out hanging downward.  He was looking at me for help, but I could do nothing but cry. I was helpless to help them!  I had desperate thoughts going through my head of what I could do.  Could I take one of their guns and save my birds? No, I was outnumbered by three large men and going to jail for life wouldn’t help any animals. I had to stay focused.  I was weak with sickness as they violently chased and grabbed the frightened birds as they battered and put them in liquor store boxes that they couldn’t even stand up in.  I desperately cried out for Lancelot as I had not seen him.  He was probably already in one of the boxes.  Lancelot was a non- releasable Red tail Hawk, the first hawk I ever rehabilitated. His blind eye dictated his fate to always be cared for by me.  He was a great lecture bird. I was crushed and angry and so I decided that this was enough!  I had a flame under my rear-end when I started the non-profit organization The Animal Rehabilitators Alliance (ARA), but now that flame was a blowtorch!  I would find a way to take away some of NJ Fish & Game’s harmful and abusive power and save the animals in this state if it was the last thing I would ever do.  You have heard the old saying, “A woman scorned!”  I was beyond scorned!

The quest GOD put me on started approximately 16 years ago, although I was always an animal lover since I was a small child.  I was on my way to a wedding and found an injured pigeon on the road.  I took the pigeon to the wedding with me, and kept it in the car.  During the reception I would visit the car to give the bird water until I could get home and find it help.  When I arrived home, I was on the phone for hours calling lead after lead.  There was no one knowledgeable to take care of injured wild birds anywhere in the area.  I lived in Atlantic County, and at this time the Avian Rehab in South Seaville had been closed for quite a few years.  Somehow I was able to track a woman named Tonya which used to run the old avian rehabilitation facility when it existed in Seaville.  She had over 20 years experience with orphaned and injured birds.  Tonya agreed to take the bird.  The next day on my way to her house the radiator in my car broke, so I had to turn around and go home.  Unable to bring her the bird my husband drove us to a veterinarian after he was done work.  “Tweety” was treated with antibiotics, and was on his way to recovery.

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Daniel Rubin: Pennsylvania Game Commission leaves bird’s rescuer in a fowl mood

 

By Daniel Rubin

Inquirer Columnist

The Miracle Bird of Elizabethtown led the Outdoors page of a Lancaster newspaper one morning this spring, a feel-good tale if there ever was one.

The column told how Pati Mattrick, a 57-year-old grandmother and preschool teacher, had rescued the hatchling from a howling rainstorm four years earlier. And now the bird was returning the favor.

Mattrick’s German shepherd had discovered the tiny creature – pink, fuzzy, and soaked – buried in the backyard ivy at the foot of a towering spruce. She carried it inside and placed it in an incubator fashioned from an old aquarium, a Tupperware bowl, a linen napkin, and a heating pad. She named the tiny bird Stormy Girl.

Unsure what her charge ate, Mattrick rounded up some worms and bugs, razoring them into bite-size specks. She e-mailed wildlife rehabilitation shelters to learn more. The bird, they said, was unlikely to survive.

But Stormy Girl did fine, growing feathers, filling out on a diet of fruit and nuts, and finding its singing voice. Mattrick learned her new friend was a house finch. The bird would serenade her as it followed her around the house. “She thought I was her mother,” Mattrick says.

Which was just what Mattrick needed, since the last of her four daughters had moved out and she didn’t feel well enough to teach anymore. The bird, she says, helped lift her depression.

The column, by outdoors writer Ad Crable of the Intelligencer Journal/New Era, ran May 11. Two mornings later, about 9 a.m., a knock at the door startled Mattrick. More alarming were her callers: a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer and three armed policemen.

They’d come for the bird.

Who knew you couldn’t keep house finches in the house?

Certainly not Mattrick. But the Game Commission knew. Those garden-variety fowl – the Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates there are as many as 1.4 billion of them on the continent – are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918.

Mattrick was breaking the law.

Over the last few months, the case has created quite a squawk. Readers sounded off, some accusing the commission of storm-trooper tactics, others defending its vigilance. A Facebook group called Help StormyGirl attracted 411 members at last count.

And Mattrick has found an ally in Lancaster County’s top prosecutor.

“At best, this case was a grossly misguided abuse of law enforcement discretion,” says Craig Stedman, the county’s district attorney. “At worst, it was just plain cruel.”

Earlier this month, Stedman made sure that no more Game Commission raids would take place in Lancaster County without his knowledge. Wardens now must get his office’s approval for all search warrants, rather than going to the local magistrate.

Stedman says the case has been a disaster for all. “I didn’t see any threat to society or the community from this,” he said. “Let’s put some common sense in this whole job of law enforcement. I really don’t want the representatives of the police participating in search warrants for house finches.”

Pati Mattrick says her health went into a dive after Stormy Girl was taken from her. Her depression has deepened. The stress has made her asthma worse, and she now needs to use oxygen every night.

“What good did this all do?” she asks. “It didn’t do the bird any good. It certainly didn’t do me any good. I don’t get it.”

She isn’t sure what to believe.

“I was lied to so many times,” she says. During the search, she says, the Game Commission officer told her that if she resisted the search, the FBI would come next.

“All I could hear was furniture moving around and her screaming and screaming,” she says. “It’s something I just can’t get out of my head.”

The animal-control officer told her that the bird would be going to a wildlife rehabilitation shelter, she says, and that she could visit it.

But the Game Commission still won’t tell her where the bird is. They wouldn’t tell me either.

“It’s alive,” is all spokesman Jerry Feaser would say.

Dude.

 

---

Contact Daniel Rubin

at 215-854-5917 or drubin@phillynews.com.

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Rocky the Raccoon?
From:  kayvon haghighi (humpbackk@hotmail.com) 
 You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as unsafe
Sent: Tue 11/11/08 7:09 PM
To:  melissapluto@hotmail.com
Cc:  janleahy123@comcast.net (janleahy123@comcast.net)

Dear Melissa,
I am writing to you per our conversation to give you the story of a baby raccoon I once knew.
 My wife and I live with our three children on four acres of woods in Wall township. We are both healthcare professionals with a great passion for conservation of the environment. We also pass along those values to our children and teach them to respect mother nature. Because of our circumstances we have frequent encounters with various forms of wildlife.
It was May  2005; the Wednesday  before Memorial Day Weekend. It had been raining for several days. My wife who is usually home on Wednesday mornings was tending to her gardens. She had come across a baby raccoon who had found shelter outside of our green house. He had wedged himself in corner behind some shrubs and underneath the gutter. Our first instincts were to leave the animal where we had found him and perhaps his mother would come looking for him. We put down some white baking flour on the ground to detect footprints. After two days and three nights, there were no signs of any maternal interaction. In fact the animal had endured the exposure to the elements without any food or water and it was amazing that it had survived. I decided to take him in and try provide him with food and shelter. I had a large plastic bin that I lined with old newspapers, and place it in the garage. I went and brought the little guy in and put him in isolation in the garage. By now the two older kids had already named him “Rocky”. It is important to note that at no point was there contact between any of us and this animal without personal protection ie gloves etc…great care was taken to minimize contact and also to disinfect or dispose of anything that came in contact with him.
Rocky could not have been more than a few weeks old. He was not taking in any food or water on his own. My youngest was 6 mos old at that time. I took one of his bottles and modified the nipple and started to gently feed Rocky baby formula. Rocky took very nicely to the nipple and was a ferocious eater. In fact he was thriving. He was alert and responsive and appeared to respond very positively to attention.
We had tried contacting several agencies to find a shelter that would take him. Because of the Holiday weekend we were not able to locate anyone locally. There were a lot of strange characters that we had encountered along the way. We were directed to the Mercer County Wildlife Center. My wife called and explained our situation. She made very clear to them that we wanted to have the animal rehabilitated and returned back to the wild. We were assured that Rocky would not be euthanized. In fact we were told we could have him released back into our own woods. Having lost our resident raccoon to exposure during the winter, we were excited about having Rocky back. My wife drove Rocky out on Monday afternoon approximately one and a half hour away. She was again reassured that the animal would not be euthanized and would in fact be rehabilitated and returned to the wild.
I called tuesday evening to ask how Rocky was doing. I was told by the telephone operator that he was doing well. I also requested to be kept informed of his progress and that we would like to have him returned to his original habitat. I was reassured again. I received a phone call from the Monmouth County Health Department on Wednesday morning informing me that the rabies test on the animal I had turned in was negative. I was shocked to learn that this beautiful animal that had survived against all odds was killed only for me to learn he did not have rabies. When I asked Ms. Nickerson, the Director of Mercer County Center, why they killed the raccoon and lied to me about it, she could not give me a logical reason or an answer.  My feeling was that I have a greater risk of contracting rabies just walking around in my backyard and getting bit by a rabid animal than I did from my interaction with Rocky. Four years have gone by and I still have a hard time explaining to my children why it was that Rocky died.   My wife and I were ready to give them a
large donation.
I have shared this story with a lot of my friends and patients alike. The consensus seems to be that the Mercer County facility has a reputation for being the judge, jury and executioner of wild animals. I am not sure what their motivation is, but I hope that what I am sharing in this e-mail will have an impact on establishing regulations that will guide these facilities, and create incentives for preserving our wildlife and prevent healthy animals from being killed. I also hope that Rocky’s death will somehow not be in vain.
I appreciate your efforts on behalf of our wildlife
Thanks,
Dr. Kayvon Haghighi

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3/13/05

 

Approximately one and half years ago, I applied to the NJ F&W for a scientific holding permit for two raccoons and two squirrels.  The permit was denied by Ms. Wells with no explanation.  I was upset, so I called Mr. Steve Toth to try to get an answer and an explanation.  Mr. Toth told me that he would be willing to consider giving me the scientific permit if I voluntarily turned in my rehabbers license for good.  I was on my lunch hour and had to cut the conversation short and never called back as I was flabbergasted at this bizarre offer.  This was precluded by the fact Ms. Wells attitude toward me changed when she stated upon her visit to my home that I had the potential for quite a facility with all the land I have.  At that point I stated to her that I had no intentions of becoming a facility and that I rehabbed for the love of the animals to do my part.  It was then that Ms. Wells attitude toward me changed to one of scorn.  From this point on my relationship with NJF&W has been a nightmare.  They dragged me into court. They made me out to be a liar and a buffoon.  This is my payback for 15 years of service.  I am shocked and appalled that government officials would testify under oath the lies that these people have told.

 

Theresa A. Mallia

tamallia@yahoo.com

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Salem County residents outraged at recent swan killing Sunday, November 08, 2009 By Randall Clark rclark@sjnewsco.com MANNINGTON TWP. – Area residents have organized in protest against the recent killing of 55 mute swans here by order of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. A public outcry began in October when information was uncovered that the state authorized the lethal collection of the majestic birds in order to thin their population and check for the presence of avian flu. In a startling discovery, the Division of Fish and Wildlife exterminated another 112 mute swans in Mannington Meadows last year under similar circumstances, according to data received after these most recent findings were made. No avian flu was detected in any of the species samples. Activists say it is part of a larger plan to eradicate the mute swan completely in order to make way for game birds that hunters will pay the state hefty fees to shoot. “If the public knew what was happening they would be horrified,” said Monmouth County resident Betty Butler, who has been following the issue up and down the eastern seaboard. “They found nothing and they knew ahead of time there would be no connection.” The stately white swans, highlighted by their distinctive orange and black beaks, often move in on domestic waterfowl’s breeding grounds and tear up vegetation that other creatures depend upon, some biologists say. A male can weigh up to 25 pounds and eat six to eight pounds of submerged aquatic vegetation a day, an inconvenience for other waterfowl and invertebrates that subsist on the same plants. But division Assistant Director Larry Herrighty said after the latest depredation that “there are ecological health issues but the main purpose of this is human safety.” No human cases of avian flu have ever been reported in the United States, World Health Organization statistics show. It has been found in some birds, however. Carneys Point resident Lucinda Lewis has developed a Web site, muteswanadvocacy.com, and an online petition calling for an investigation into the state’s depredation plan. About 55 people have signed it thus far. “A very determined and calculated effort has been made to destroy a bird that is appreciated whether or not it is considered native,” Lewis said. “The scientists have used data that most of us have difficulty accessing and given a very one-sided approach. And new information to the contrary is not being considered.” Experts are at odds as to whether or not the mute swan should be considered a native or non-native species to the country, a point which could play a key role in the protection it receives. While commonly held information says that mute swans were first introduced in America in the 1800s as a decorative bird for zoos, parks and private estates, a 2008 academic paper in “Picoides” on the subject shows a watercolor painting of a mute swan from 1585 during Sir Walter Raleigh’s scientific exploration of America. “Picoides” is the bulletin of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists. Fossil remains were also unearthed in four states from the Miocene era onward, according to the paper’s authors, Dr. Robert Alison and Kathryn Stillwell Burton. The Atlantic Flyway Council, which is a partner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recommended in its Atlantic Flyway Mute Swan Management Plan 2003-2013 that “the New Jersey mute swan population objective is 500 swans statewide.” With around 1,250 mute swans counted in New Jersey last year through the Atlantic Flyway Midsummer survey, another 750 would have to be slaughtered during the next four years in order to reach that goal. The Atlantic Flyway Council states that “populations should be particularly reduced in coastal impoundments managed for migrant and wintering waterfowl.” It goes on to say the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s control unit generally receives 10 or fewer complaints annually regarding mute swans. Across the Atlantic Flyway that stretches from Ontario to Florida, the mute swan’s numbers have seen an exponential decline since 2002, dropping from 14,344 to 10,541 in 2008. States like Maryland and Connecticut have documented extensive mute swan massacres. “Humane Society of the United States had a witness to the killings in the Chesapeake (Bay),” according to Burton, who has tried to hold the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service accountable in federal court. “The 4,500 swans have been reduced to under 100 and the methods of killing, some were a felony in Maryland. Sacking, beating and cutting the necks with a long handled branch cutter,” according to Burton. Mannington Township Mayor Ernest Tark Jr. said he and other township officials knew nothing of the state’s plans locally. He said last month “they just came in and did it.” “A lot of people come down to see the swans and they are in a lot of the county’s tourism materials,” Tark said previously. Their image also headlines the county government Web site, salemcountynj.gov. Lewis said that on Tuesday she counted approximately 30 swans on the east side of county Route 540 and about 10 others by the bridge on Old Kings Highway. “Why shouldn’t the swans be allowed to eat eight pounds of submerged vegetation a day?” Lewis asked. “In an open and expansive area that has obviously supported them and brought nature lovers to the meadows for generations.”

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I told them since they mixed them up, and did not allow me to cage them by name; I could not identify each raccoon and know which area they came from.  They asked if they had been vaccinated.  I told them yes, the veterinarian had all of the records.  However, it was not a law that they had to be vaccinated, although all of them were vaccinated for parvo, distemper, and rabies.  They took the animals on that Friday the conservation officers positioned the animal carriers facing  one another so that each raccoon could see one another, and shot them through the top of the carriers so they could see eachother die.  They killed almost all of them. except for 2.   The 2 not shot were taken to the Mercer County Center and were there for a few months until the head of the nature center, Diane Nickerson killed them.  F&G told the media it was necessary to kill them because they were not vaccinated.

The courts had ordered a test of the raccoons to see if they had been vaccinated as the veterinary records showed, but F&G ordered them we killed before they could be tested.   I had been charged with illegal possession and the court went on for 8 years.  We eventually won the case.  The judge did not see a reason to kill the animals since there were records signed off by the doctor on the vaccinations.  The judge saw that it took so long that justice delayed was justice denied.  He saw no reason for the complaint in the first place so he dismissed it.

All of those raccoons died for nothing. They were physically and mentally tortured the last hours of their life by our NJ Fish & Game Officers.   The memory of what took place that day and the lengthy trial will remain a nightmare I will remember the rest of my life.

Bill Sleight

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I went to my car and picked up the copy of the paperwork I had sent them, and handed it to Lisa.  She said,” well, it’s too late.”  It was obvious they used this paperwork as an excuse to come to my house.  She then got on the radio and said that the area was secure.  Then, two trucks pulled up and parked at both ends of the road and all of the men come piling out of the truck from F&G, they went in the house and started netting the animals.  The baby raccoons they grabbed with snare poles.  They were just little babies; they did not have to do that.  Then they went out in the back.  They had the Long Branch Animal Control with them, the Long Branch Police, and the health department. They went into the huge walk in cages I have for the raccoons, and started snare poling the animals around the neck.  I yelled at them not to do that, their necks are too sensitive for that, you must do it around the waist.  The Long Branch Animal Control told conservation officers not to snare them around the neck, it was incorrect. NJ F&G barked back that they were the experts and continued poling them around the neck.  The animals were screaming, and the raccoons were reaching their arms out of the cages toward me to help them. (Raccoons are trusting of their caretakers).I moved towards one of the conservation officers on the scene (it was Larry Herrighty’s brother). I wanted them to stop hurting the raccoons.  Larry Herrighty’s brother told the other conservation officers to restrain me.  The conservation officers jumped me and held guns pointed at my head, then turned to the police officers and barked a command to cuff me.  The officers refused to cuff me and requested that the conservation officers remove the guns pointed at my head.  The F&G officers relayed to the police that I was a threat.  The police officers told the F&G that I was not a threat.  They said,” The man has no shirt on or shoes”.  I was held under guard for 2 hours in the back of the property.  I couldn’t do a thing.  When they finally gathered up all of the animals they asked where they all came from.  I had named my animals by code to identify the towns where each animal came from, so when released they would go back to the area they came from.

To be continued

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