Operation Game Thief has helped Texas
Like other law enforcement officers, game warden John Brooks of Dalhart had seen or heard about his share of shocking scenarios.
However, when he was called out to an ominous scene in Dallam County in 2001, he didn't know he was headed to the site of what would become one of the worst cases of poaching documented in Texas.
At least 39 pronghorn antelope either had been shot or run over with vehicles and left to die with no real evidence or solid information to go on to find who had perpetrated the heinous wildlife violation.
Thanks to the Operation Game Thief program, which allows private individuals to give information anonymously, and the tireless work of Brooks who traveled thousands of miles chasing down leads, those responsible were located and fined to the extent of the law.
Nine residents of Texas and other states were convicted, lost hunting privileges and paid fines of as much as $4,000 each. The fines paid for restitution of the animals was about $14,000, and there was even a fine for damage caused by a fire started by the poachers. The fines could have been much steeper if the buck antelope among those slaughtered had not dropped their horns for the year, but because they had no headgear it was not possible to assign a higher value.
One downside to the case is that game wardens found the remains of a number of other antelope nearby, a circumstance that raised a number of obvious questions but couldn't be tied to the poachers. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who worked the case or anyone else in the game warden line of work to not reach consensus that things like that don't just happen.
Pronghorns are known to follow barriers such as fences rather than jump them, which makes it possible to essentially herd the animals from a vehicle, something wardens strongly believe the poachers did before shooting them with a variety of weapons and even driving over them after they were corralled and had nowhere to run.
Brooks previously said that without the public's help the case never would have made it very far and the poachers likely could have escaped without any consequences.
The New Mexico Department of Fish and Game started Operation Game Thief in 1977 as a way to stem the poaching tide in the state, which had escalated to previously unseen levels. The program was modeled after Crime Stoppers, which began in 1976 in Albuquerque, N.M., and has achieved unprecedented success. OGT offers rewards like the Crime Stoppers program. If a lawbreaker is arrested or issued a citation on the basis of information provided by an anonymous tipster, the tipster gets a reward.
OGT operations and other antipoaching programs in each state have hotlines that are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most states also have an online form anonymous tipsters can fill out. And in Texas, if you don't wish to give your name when providing information, you will be assigned a code number.
In most cases, states will quantify the reward amount based on the severity of the crime. If an animal is deemed a trophy based on Safari Club International measurements, poachers can face stiffer monetary penalties and possible jail time, which is a big improvement over penalties that had been assessed in the past in many states.
During the life of OGT in Texas, more than $1,180,000 in fines have been assessed and more than $200,000 in rewards have been doled out for information provided from the public.
OGT, adopted in Texas in 1981, is crucial to stopping most wildlife violations. Anyone who witnesses something illegal -- or even thinks it may be illegal -- should call the toll-free hotline at 1-800-792-GAME with as much detailed information as possible as soon as they can. OGT personnel have said that in the past many people often will wait until a Monday or Tuesday to call after seeing a violation over the weekend, which only makes it harder to track down information on leads.
The key to the program is that it provides a vital link between the public and what certainly is a stretched net of game wardens, especially in a time of mounting budget cutbacks. In some Rolling Plains and Panhandle areas there is only one warden for every two counties, which makes it almost impossible to track certain crimes that undoubtedly happen every year. And while game violations are the primary target of the program, the public is advised to call in other things they think may be violations, including environmental crimes, crime such as arson in state parks and even the uprooting of artifacts.
For more information on Texas' Operation Game Thief program, visit www.ogttx.com online.
Will Leschper's email address is leschperw@yahoo.com.
Share this story:
Google
Yahoo
digg
del.icio.us
facebook
Slashdot
