GOTCHA!!!

[Bobbie Ireland]

...and another one bites the dust!! B.
_______

Man jailed for smuggling falcons' eggs
? 
A businessman was jailed for 30 months in Britain today after he admitted trying to smuggle the eggs of a rare peregrine falcon to Dubai.

Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, was caught with 14 eggs strapped to his body at Birmingham International Airport on May 3 after he was spotted acting suspiciously by a cleaner.

He had wrapped the eggs, worth £70,000 (€85,000), in socks before taping them to his chest.

Today Lendrum, of Towcester, Northamptonshire, admitted one count of trying to export the eggs illegally and a second charge of stealing them from a nest in South Wales during a hearing at Warwick Crown Court.

The court heard the 14 eggs were destined for falconries in Dubai, where breeders will pay thousands of pounds on the black market for eggs snatched from the wild.

Lendrum had previous convictions in Zimbabwe and Canada for stealing rare eggs and had at one stage abseiled from a helicopter to reach a remote nest.

He was caught after a cleaner working in the Emirates business class lounge of Birmingham International Airport spotted him dashing in and out of the shower.

When she went to investigate the shower had not been used and she called in counter-terrorist officers, fearing the defendant had a more sinister purpose.

The court heard there were only 1,400 breeding pairs of Peregrine falcons in the UK and the birds were regarded as one of the most endangered species.

[Donna]

Anything to make a buck. Sick.

[birdmusic]

For those of you who, like me, were stopped by "abseiled from a helicopter": 

Abseiling (German: abseilen, "to rope down"), rappelling in American English,[1] is the controlled descent down a rope; climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection. Abseiling is used chiefly in British English, as well as in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

He got 14 eggs out of one nest??

[Annette]

These people are very bad. 

[Bobbie Ireland]

For those of you who, like me, were stopped by "abseiled from a helicopter": 

Abseiling (German: abseilen, "to rope down"), rappelling in American English,[1] is the controlled descent down a rope; climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection. Abseiling is used chiefly in British English, as well as in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

He got 14 eggs out of one nest??

I saw that too! Also... for shame (in another report) that he is Irish! And yes... 30 months per egg would have been better! Having seen a few other posts re this, I am at least pleased it is getting wide coverage.

[Donna]

Peregrine falcon chicks saved from smuggler are released into the wild in Scotland

Aug 20 2010 By John Ferguson

SEVEN peregrine falcons have been released into the wild in Scotland, just months after being saved from a smuggler.

Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, was caught with 14 stolen eggs worth £70,000, at Birmingham International airport in May.

Yesterday, as he was jailed for 30 months at Warwick Crown Court, officials hailed the success of a rescue operation involving the Scottish Wildlife Trust, RSPB and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

A total of 11 chicks were hatched, with seven rehomed in Scotland. Four were placed at two undisclosed sites.

The other three were fostered by a pair of breeding peregrines at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Falls of Clyde wildlife reserve and visitor centre in Lanarkshire.

Rspb Scotland's Ian Thomson said: "We're delighted that this serious case had such a happy ending."

[MAK]

 

[Bird Crazy]