Reptile Raid Yields Felony Indictment

Ohio Division of Wildlife officers set a trap for animal traffickers and say they caught a big one as a result.

A previous raid of a reptile show is now leading to felony charges. A Toledo man is being charged with trafficking in a protected reptile species -- Ohio salamanders.

The camera was rolling when state wildlife officers raided Columbus' All-Ohio Reptile Show in June of 2003. A two-year, multi-state, undercover investigation led them there.

"We placed officers in an undercover capacity as dealers and buyers because it was a way to make contacts there,” Ohio Division of Natural Resources Officer Jim Quinlivan explains. “And we were amazed at the number of illegal activities going on," he told 10TV.

They say they found dozens of Ohioans collecting and selling endangered and threatened species, including turtles, snakes and salamanders. Wildlife officials say Illegal dealers have the potential to wipe out entire species. That’s what prompts such vigorous enforcement.

Quinliven says the Toledo man indicted Tuesday (March 29) would collect salamanders from Ohio ponds and sell them -- a lucrative crime. He may have taken reptiles. But in Ohio, that’s the equivalent of poaching, like killing an endangered black bear or a bald eagle.

"To the average Ohioan, I think, salamanders, snakes, turtles, are not as glamorous as bald eagles or white-tailed deer,” Quinliven concedes. “But when you take into account our quality of life here in Ohio and our wildlife diversity, I think all Ohioans should care if there's a potential for our wildlife to be taken from the wild and sold illegally."

Most of those arrested in the 2003 raid have cooperated with the investigation and are already serving probation.

But the Division of Wildlife says Tuesday's felony indictment should serve as a warning to others that buying and selling Ohio wildlife won't be tolerated.

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This is the same garbage they have been publicizing for the past 2 1/2 years to make themselves look better! The government spent $2.1 million tax dollars to get $60,000 in fines and put 4 people in jail for a grand total of maybe 5 years! It is a joke.

The guilty people who commit these types of crimes certainly never receive the punishment that might possibly start having an effect on traffickers of 'Herptiles". Maybe if the laws were more severe.