13 



caught wild birds being sold as captive bred. Have you had any 

 cases that relate to the problem? 



Mr. Jones. Mr. Congressman, we have had some very substan- 

 tial cases that relate to that problem. One recent operation, Oper- 

 ation Renegade, involved an international smuggling ring engaged 

 in all kinds of activities designed to get fraudulent papers, and 

 bring birds into the United States under false circumstances. Now 

 that case was not brought under the Wild Bird Conservation Act, 

 because the case was initiated before the law was passed, but it 

 does emphasize that there are those who would seek to make a 

 profit off the illegal acquisition, the unsustainable taking of birds 

 from the wild, bringing them into commerce and selling them into 

 the United States. It is not surprising since the value of some of 

 the birds that were involved in this operation, cockatoos from Aus- 

 tralia which were removed from nests and smuggled into the Unit- 

 ed States and then masqueraded as captive-bred birds, many of 

 those birds were worth many thousand dollars in the retail trade. 

 And so, Mr. Congressman, there is this very small minority of 

 those who will seek to ignore the law and by fraudulent means 

 bring birds in. That does not mean, Mr. Congressman, that we be- 

 lieve that the vast majority of those who are affected by the law 

 are anjrthing except law-abiding citizens who will seek in every 

 way they can to comply with the law, but it does emphasize, Mr. 

 Chairman, that there is always the possibility of illegal activities, 

 and we strive to take the appropriate action to minimize those, to 

 find the people who are doing that and to prosecute them. 



Mr. Studds. So your position generally is that the law as it 

 stands is fine, although it could always use improvement in admin- 

 istration, and that is your goal? 



Mr. Jones. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Studds. Are you quite sure you want this Congress doing 

 an3rthing at all with your statute? 



Mr. Jones. Congressman 



Mr. Studds. Do you want a reauthorization or would you like us 

 to pretend momentarily that you don't exist? 



Mr. Jones. I will have to repeat, I think it is too late for us to 

 become a stealth program. 



Mr. Studds. You are not expensive enough. 



Mr. Jones. And we do — ^we seek to have the Act reauthorized 

 and we hope that it can be reauthorized exactly the way it is writ- 

 ten right now. 



Mr. Studds. Let us pray. Thank you very much. 



Mr. Saxton. I see that the new Congress has at least one mem- 

 ber's attention. Mr. Jones, thank you very much for your testimony. 

 I have no further questions and will excuse you at this point. 

 Thank you very much. 



Mr. Jones. All right, thank you, sir. 



Mr. Saxton. Let me introduce the third panel made up of Mr. 

 Larry Herrighty, who is the Supervising Wildlife Biologist from the 

 Department of Fish and Game from my home state, New Jersey, 

 member of the Department of Environmental Protection; also Mr. 

 James P. Leape, Senior Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund; 

 and Dr. Teresa M. Telecky, the Director of the Wildlife Trade Pro- 

 gram for the Humane Society of the U.S.; and Dr. Steve Beissinger 



