Huge Fine and Possible Jail for Rescuing Baby Bird

by Dave Blount | August 2, 2011 1:56 pm

Under rule by progressive statists, most everything that isn’t mandatory is forbidden. Saving baby woodpeckers isn’t yet required by law, consequently…[1]

Eleven-year-old aspiring veterinarian, Skylar Capo, sprang into action the second she learned that a baby woodpecker in her Dad’s backyard was about to be eaten by the family cat.

“I’ve just always loved animals,” said Skylar Capo. “I couldn’t stand to watch it be eaten.”

Skylar couldn’t find the woodpecker’s mother, so she brought it to her own mother, Alison Capo, who agreed to take it home.

“She was just going to take care of it for a day or two, make sure it was safe and uninjured, and then she was going to let it go,” said Capo.

That was before they happened into an agent for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, who announced that the woodpecker is a protected species. Therefore, it is against federal law to transport a baby woodpecker, Tenth Amendment notwithstanding.

So as soon as the Capo family returned home, they say they opened the cage, the bird flew away, and they reported it to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“They said that’s great, that’s exactly what we want to see,” said Capo. “We thought that we had done everything that we could possibly do.”

But roughly two weeks later, that same woman from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed up at Capo’s front door. This time, Capo says the woman was accompanied by a state trooper. Capo refused to accept a citation, but was later mailed a notice to appear in U.S. District Court for unlawfully taking a migratory bird. She’s also been slapped with a $535 fine.

“I feel harassed and I feel angry,” said Capo.

“Kids should be able to save a baby bird and not end up going home crying because their mom has to pay $535. I just think that’s crazy,” said Skylar.

9NEWS NOW has tried repeatedly to contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So far, they have not returned any of our calls. If convicted, Capo could face up to a year behind bars.

That’s the price of allowing liberals to fundamentally transform the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave into the Burrow of the Bureaucrats.

On a tip from GoY. Cross-posted at Moonbattery[2].