Post by SkyRider on Apr 4, 2005 11:23:20 GMT -5
I received this email today and it is disturbing. It is happening in California right now and is also being done in Colorado so I'm POSITIVE it will happen in every State soon so PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE EMAIL AND PASSIT ALONG TO EVERY FALCONER YOU KNOW!! Here is it in it's entirety:
To all CHC members:
Please pass this information on to other members you know that do not have email access. Due to the time constraints involved, it's not possible to send out a mailing on this, but we want to reach as many of our members as possible.
As many of you already know, USF&WS and CA DFG are in the process of performing facilities inspections on licensed falconers in CA. These inspections started last week and continue this week and for the foreseeable future.
I spoke by phone with Brett dickerson, USF&WS Special agent in charge of the current inspections going on. He had taken the initiative to contact me and invited me to call him if I felt there was anything we needed to talk about.
We had a good talk.
First, FWS is attempting to inspect all falconers in the state. They don't know how long it will take; a month; a year; they don't know. They are starting out of the Clovis office and have been working the Sacramento area and south. So far they have been impressed with the level of compliance by state falconers. They are seeing about 20-30% of the inspections developing issues that need to be cleared up, and they were expecting more like 50-60% based on previous history and other states. That means 70-80% of the inspected falconers are fine.
They're looking at the paperwork before they go to a location, so when they come to your house, they already know how many birds you should have and what 3-186a's you have on file. Don't fudge that stuff, folks. This is critical.
I also found out that according to 50 CFR 13.46, you are required to keep a 3-186 for 5 years from the date you dispose of a bird. So if you got rid of a bird in 1990, there is no requirement for you to still have the paperwork, but if you disposed of it in 2001, you still need it. That was verified by agent dickerson. However, since 3-186a forms have been known to go missing from the official record at times, I would strongly recommend that you keep them forever.
I asked him about the reports we have received about a few breeding birds getting pulled off eggs, and explained to him why this is a bad thing. He told me that a number of his people were pretty new to this whole thing and they had not anticipated the birds on eggs bit. He said in retrospect they should not have pulled them and apologized for that. He said he would send a directive out to all the agents involved asking them to not disturb breeding birds if at all possible; maybe rescheduling that for a later date if needed, but generally to respect the breeding birds and not disturb them. He had no problem with that.
He also spoke about how the inspections have been going. He says yes, he has gotten confrontational with a couple of people who were not responding to friendly communication or obviously lying to him, and got caught out in the lies. His goal is to get to the truth, and if he has to hammer a bit to do that, he's going to do that. No surprise there. These guys are cops. They don't like getting treated like idiots. Bad paperwork is a citation; lying to a LE officer is a felony. Be straight with these guys. Treat them with respect and they will return that respect.
He's seeing numerous people trying to pull fast ones on him. "Oh; those 6 birds that I don't have anymore? They died a couple of days ago. I just hadn't sent in the paperwork yet" Riiiight.....
They are trying to keep the hours as reasonable as possible. They are not supposed to do inspections on Sundays, and will keep the daily hours reasonable, too.
In the end, they need the paperwork to be right and the birds properly cared for. Protect the wild resource. That's their goal. If you have all your paperwork in order and your facilities are appropriate, they can be in and out in 15 minutes or so.
If you are inspected and have a problem, please notify a CHC director in writing with as much detail as possible. Get all the names involved.
We received the following information from Frank Bond, NAFA general counsel, about your rights and requirements when inspected. Please study it carefully.
**********
Being cordial and forthright is important, but I do remind you that the falconers do have some inherent rights. A falconer can limit the visits to just the mews/breeding facilities and the location of his/her paperwork. FWS has no right to be anywhere else on the falconer's property nor even in his/her house if the falconry paperwork is not kept there. To inspect anything else requires a search warrant. Routinely they will also look into freezers where hawk food is kept. Once inside the freezer they can look at anything else. That said, every falconer should review what is kept in a freezer.
The inspectors have no right to inspect the contents of a falconer's computer or to take custody of a falconer's computer without the consent of the falconer or a search warrant. A falconer should not voluntarily give up custody of a personal computer.
The falconer is not obligated to answer any question except directly about a falconry document. Questions beyond his/her falconry activities are out of bounds, and there is no obligation to respond.
If there is a problem, the falconer should do all that he can to rectify the paperwork problem, but if something is deficient, then he/she might expect a citation.
Citation: Here is the big issue. If a citation is issued and the falconer agrees to it, even a minor one, the falconer will be routinely subject to revocation. Under 50 CFR 13, any violations of a [falconry] permit are grounds for revocation. So if a citation is issued to a falconer, then he/she should not agree to it unless he/she has in writing from the federal AND STATE law enforcement officials that they will not seek revocation, if he/she pays the fine. Signing the ticket means that you accept what it charges you with. Payment of a fine is essentially a plea of guilty to the citation which begins the revocation process. Law Enforcement will not do the revocation. It passes back to permitting authorities, in your case to the Portland FWS Office. With a payment of a fine the falconer will receive a notice of revocation. He will have a right to appeal it under 50 CFR 13, but I have never seen a notice of revocation withdrawn. Revocation is routinely for 5 years, and then the falconer may reapply for the permit. However, I am now seeing prior revocations used as a basis for denying a new permit even after the 5 year revocation period. I have never seen a simple suspension for a shorter period of time.
The reason that a falconer must keep all paperwork of all types for 5 years is because that is the statue of limitations for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. After a 5 year period, the FWS cannot do a prosecution on a MBTA violation. However, I recommend that you keep all paperwork for as long as you are a falconer.
If a falconer is cited. I strongly urge him/her to retain a lawyer immediately before agreement to any citation. The risks of losing his/her permit is very great.
**********
Thanks much to NAFA and Frank Bond for the above information. Again; make sure all your paperwork is up to date and accessible. A routine inspection is something we all agreed to as part of our permit conditions. Make sure that your routine inspection is exactly that! Feel free to contact a board member if you have any questions.
Best to all!
----------------------------------------------------------
I got this from FB's forum, it was posted by Eddie. All please read!
To all CHC members:
Please pass this information on to other members you know that do not have email access. Due to the time constraints involved, it's not possible to send out a mailing on this, but we want to reach as many of our members as possible.
As many of you already know, USF&WS and CA DFG are in the process of performing facilities inspections on licensed falconers in CA. These inspections started last week and continue this week and for the foreseeable future.
I spoke by phone with Brett dickerson, USF&WS Special agent in charge of the current inspections going on. He had taken the initiative to contact me and invited me to call him if I felt there was anything we needed to talk about.
We had a good talk.
First, FWS is attempting to inspect all falconers in the state. They don't know how long it will take; a month; a year; they don't know. They are starting out of the Clovis office and have been working the Sacramento area and south. So far they have been impressed with the level of compliance by state falconers. They are seeing about 20-30% of the inspections developing issues that need to be cleared up, and they were expecting more like 50-60% based on previous history and other states. That means 70-80% of the inspected falconers are fine.
They're looking at the paperwork before they go to a location, so when they come to your house, they already know how many birds you should have and what 3-186a's you have on file. Don't fudge that stuff, folks. This is critical.
I also found out that according to 50 CFR 13.46, you are required to keep a 3-186 for 5 years from the date you dispose of a bird. So if you got rid of a bird in 1990, there is no requirement for you to still have the paperwork, but if you disposed of it in 2001, you still need it. That was verified by agent dickerson. However, since 3-186a forms have been known to go missing from the official record at times, I would strongly recommend that you keep them forever.
I asked him about the reports we have received about a few breeding birds getting pulled off eggs, and explained to him why this is a bad thing. He told me that a number of his people were pretty new to this whole thing and they had not anticipated the birds on eggs bit. He said in retrospect they should not have pulled them and apologized for that. He said he would send a directive out to all the agents involved asking them to not disturb breeding birds if at all possible; maybe rescheduling that for a later date if needed, but generally to respect the breeding birds and not disturb them. He had no problem with that.
He also spoke about how the inspections have been going. He says yes, he has gotten confrontational with a couple of people who were not responding to friendly communication or obviously lying to him, and got caught out in the lies. His goal is to get to the truth, and if he has to hammer a bit to do that, he's going to do that. No surprise there. These guys are cops. They don't like getting treated like idiots. Bad paperwork is a citation; lying to a LE officer is a felony. Be straight with these guys. Treat them with respect and they will return that respect.
He's seeing numerous people trying to pull fast ones on him. "Oh; those 6 birds that I don't have anymore? They died a couple of days ago. I just hadn't sent in the paperwork yet" Riiiight.....
They are trying to keep the hours as reasonable as possible. They are not supposed to do inspections on Sundays, and will keep the daily hours reasonable, too.
In the end, they need the paperwork to be right and the birds properly cared for. Protect the wild resource. That's their goal. If you have all your paperwork in order and your facilities are appropriate, they can be in and out in 15 minutes or so.
If you are inspected and have a problem, please notify a CHC director in writing with as much detail as possible. Get all the names involved.
We received the following information from Frank Bond, NAFA general counsel, about your rights and requirements when inspected. Please study it carefully.
**********
Being cordial and forthright is important, but I do remind you that the falconers do have some inherent rights. A falconer can limit the visits to just the mews/breeding facilities and the location of his/her paperwork. FWS has no right to be anywhere else on the falconer's property nor even in his/her house if the falconry paperwork is not kept there. To inspect anything else requires a search warrant. Routinely they will also look into freezers where hawk food is kept. Once inside the freezer they can look at anything else. That said, every falconer should review what is kept in a freezer.
The inspectors have no right to inspect the contents of a falconer's computer or to take custody of a falconer's computer without the consent of the falconer or a search warrant. A falconer should not voluntarily give up custody of a personal computer.
The falconer is not obligated to answer any question except directly about a falconry document. Questions beyond his/her falconry activities are out of bounds, and there is no obligation to respond.
If there is a problem, the falconer should do all that he can to rectify the paperwork problem, but if something is deficient, then he/she might expect a citation.
Citation: Here is the big issue. If a citation is issued and the falconer agrees to it, even a minor one, the falconer will be routinely subject to revocation. Under 50 CFR 13, any violations of a [falconry] permit are grounds for revocation. So if a citation is issued to a falconer, then he/she should not agree to it unless he/she has in writing from the federal AND STATE law enforcement officials that they will not seek revocation, if he/she pays the fine. Signing the ticket means that you accept what it charges you with. Payment of a fine is essentially a plea of guilty to the citation which begins the revocation process. Law Enforcement will not do the revocation. It passes back to permitting authorities, in your case to the Portland FWS Office. With a payment of a fine the falconer will receive a notice of revocation. He will have a right to appeal it under 50 CFR 13, but I have never seen a notice of revocation withdrawn. Revocation is routinely for 5 years, and then the falconer may reapply for the permit. However, I am now seeing prior revocations used as a basis for denying a new permit even after the 5 year revocation period. I have never seen a simple suspension for a shorter period of time.
The reason that a falconer must keep all paperwork of all types for 5 years is because that is the statue of limitations for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. After a 5 year period, the FWS cannot do a prosecution on a MBTA violation. However, I recommend that you keep all paperwork for as long as you are a falconer.
If a falconer is cited. I strongly urge him/her to retain a lawyer immediately before agreement to any citation. The risks of losing his/her permit is very great.
**********
Thanks much to NAFA and Frank Bond for the above information. Again; make sure all your paperwork is up to date and accessible. A routine inspection is something we all agreed to as part of our permit conditions. Make sure that your routine inspection is exactly that! Feel free to contact a board member if you have any questions.
Best to all!
----------------------------------------------------------
I got this from FB's forum, it was posted by Eddie. All please read!
