They were passengers on planes, flying around California to chat.
The couple associated their hunting adventures with a pair of flyers in the row in front of them. Things were clearly cozy and they confided that they had hunted the mountain lion. In fact, they said that relatives were huge fans of wildlife that were packed and loaded. They had mountain lions, wolverines and wolves in the “trophy room.”
Not only that, the couple had their own trophy, a green sea turtle skull, which was on that plane with them.
The previous consecutive passengers should have listened with enthusiastic interest. They were officers of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
As CDFW relates to the story, the pair flew to Northern California in plain clothes after attending a training session in San Diego.
When the plane landed, the hunters were asked by their travel companions if they could peek into the skull of the sea turtle.
Wildlife officials said the couple “have admitted potential illegal possession.” They then waited until the coast cleared – making sure there were no TSA agents.
They pulled out a skull that authorities said had secreted into their jackets in carry-on baggage.
These bones belonged to the federal listed species of endangered species that were illegal to own and transport.
After wildlife officers returned to the ground where they had been trampled, they wrote down a search warrant. One prefers stuffed food for the couple’s Chico home and their Napa County family.
At Chico’s residence, CDFW said the discovery included mountain lion claws, ringtail cats and mounted barn owls.
As the agency points out, the Mountain Lion, Ringtail Cat, and Wolverine are California’s sheltered species, and Mounted Raptors require permission.
A fully-body stuffed mountain lion and a wolverine were found at their Napa County home, the agency said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assisted in search warrants, investigations and prosecution by Byron Lee Fitzpatrick, 24, Shannon Lee Price, 28, Harry Vern Fitzpatrick.
All three pleaded guilty to violating the Fish and Game Code, fined $1,865, $1,015 and $605 respectively, and were on probation. The young pair were forbidden from hunting for a year.
“Like human trafficking of humans and drugs,” CDFW said in a news release highlighting the seriousness of the incident, “trafficking of both living and animal wildlife has crossed borders around the world.” It is known to fund criminal organizations and violent activities.”
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