A Red Deer woman is one of four people charged with trafficking wildlife parts after a lengthy Alberta Sustainable Resource Development investigation.
“We had a two-year undercover operation,” said department spokesman Darcy Whiteside on Friday.
“It was regarding trafficking of eagle and other birds of prey parts. It covered St. Paul, Cochrane and Red Deer area.
“I can tell you it was actually initiated from another investigation.”
Twenty-five charges were laid against four people and one St. Paul business under the province’s Wildlife Act and a vehicle was seized.
“There’s a risk to eagle populations as a result of illegal trade,” he said.
“They are a sensitive species. They’re not currently believed to be at risk in Alberta, but North America-wide there is definitely a concern and they need special management.”
In North America, illegal trafficking of animal parts is believed to be second only to drugs. Gallbladders from bears and big horn sheep have been trafficked as well as other animal parts. “It’s a broad range of trafficking and a black market.”
The names of those who have been charged have not been released.
“We wouldn’t release names until charges have actually gone through the courts,” he said.
A 47-year-old Red Deer woman is due in Red Deer provincial court on March 21 to face a single charge of trafficking in wildlife and possession for the purpose of trafficking in wildlife.
She is also due in St. Paul provincial court on March 10 on another set of the same charges.
Also appearing in St. Paul court that day will be a 49-year-old Innisfree man and a 38-year-old Edmonton man. Both are charged, along with a St. Paul business, with five counts each of trafficking in wildlife and one count each of possession for the purpose.
A 47-year-old Morley woman has been charged with two counts of trafficking wildlife and one count of possession for the purpose and is due to appear in Cochrane provincial court on March 18.
If convicted, the suspects could be fined and jailed. The maximum penalties for each charge are a $100,000 fine and two years in jail.
A number of people have been convicted of trafficking in eagle feathers in Western Canada in recent years.
Five years ago, a Wetaskiwin pawn shop owner was fined $18,000 after pleading guilty to trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking charges.
The feathers had been sold as souvenirs or part of artwork in the Wetaskiwin and Hobbema areas.
In 2008, a North Battleford, Sask., pawn shop owner was fined $25,000 for illegally selling eagle feathers.
In 2005, the million-dollar international eagle-parts trade made headlines when 50 butchered eagle carcasses were found on Tsleil-Waututh First Nation land in North Vancouver.
Conservation officers and police launched an investigation across Canada and 15 men from the Vancouver and Fraser Valley areas were eventually charged with trafficking in eagle parts. Several faced stiff fines and two received brief jail terms.
Last year, First Nations leaders in B.C. demanded the right to sustainably harvest eagle feathers for ceremonial use.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com