blake
Life Member
NEWS:
Kentucky Sting Snares Coyote, Fox Traffickers
04/15/2009
20 months of intense investigations, five men and one woman have been arrested on 831 collective counts of illegally buying, selling or possessing wild-caught foxes and coyotes, as well as one count of animal cruelty.
Authorities seized eight coyotes illegally in the possession of George Hill, 57, of Waco, Kentucky, when they were sent to deliver a summons. Hill was arrested on the spot.
The sting, code-named “Gyp-Sum,” involved conservation officers in Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, Virginia, South Carolina, Indiana and Florida.
arrested in Kentucky were Forest D. "Tony" Hall, 69, of Sitka, Elbridge Cook, 62, and Michael Ellis, 62, both of Corinth; as well as James Auxier, 41, of East Point, and Charles Creech, 73, of Beattyville, Thomas Hymer, 78, of Irvine in Estill County, and Clustena Hall, 70, of Sitka, received a summons to appear in court.
Undercover officers have been following the illegal ring of fox and coyote trafficking, and witnessed several instances of illegal possession, buying and selling of the animals.
One of the worst witnessed accounts involved Creech cutting the tails off live coyotes to be used in chase pens for fox hound training. Creech was charged with seven counts of animal cruelty, and faces up to seven years in prison and $15,000 in fines.
"Officers in other states have heard of that practice, but this is the first time someone has actually demonstrated it to an officer," a Kentucky undercover officer who witnessed the mutilation, said. "The tail is the first thing the hounds grab, so cutting it off makes it harder for the dogs to catch the coyote and extends the chase."
Chase pen operators will pay up to $100 for a coyote or fox to train hounds according to conservation officers. Wildlife biologists are concerned that the chase pens will lead to a coyote and fox black market in Kentucky.
