WASHINGTON – Gregory K. Dupont, 38, of
Plaquemine, La., was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., to
serve six months in prison, to be followed by four months in a half-way house
and two years of supervised release. Dupont
was also ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.
Dupont’s sentencing, handed down by U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson
late Thursday, was the first ever felony conviction and prison sentence
resulting from the illegal hunting of American alligators (Alligator
mississippiensis), in violation of the Lacey Act, the Endangered Species Act,
and Louisiana law.
Dupont has owned and operated Louisiana
Hunters Inc., a hunting outfitting company, since 2001. His clients hired him to take them on
alligator hunts in Louisiana, and they included out-of-state residents who were
required to hunt with a licensed resident alligator hunter. Dupont took some of the out-of-state clients
to hunt alligators on property where he was not authorized to hunt. On Feb.10, 2012, Dupont pleaded guilty to selling
American alligators by providing outfitting and guiding services, knowing the
alligators to have been taken illegally, on a hunt in September 2006.
In 1967, American alligators were listed
as an endangered species because the total population size in the United States
reached drastically low numbers due to severe poaching and overharvesting. The conservation effect of this protected
status and of the Lacey Act, the Endangered Species Act, and regulations
promulgated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Louisiana
led to the recovery of the size of the American alligator population in the
United States, and American alligators were down-listed to threatened status in
1987. The success of the American
alligator conservation program is second only to that of the Bald Eagle.
Because American alligators remain federally
protected, alligator hunting is regulated by federal and state rules and
regulations, which require, among other things, the tagging of all harvested
alligators. The integrity of the tagging
system is crucial to Louisiana’s alligator management program because it
enables the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to monitor harvest
areas, alligator size and the number of alligators taken. This system depends in significant part upon
the honesty and self-regulation of Louisiana’s licensed hunters for its
continued success.
In Louisiana, an allotted number of
alligator hide tags are issued to licensed hunters. Each tag may be used for one alligator only,
and Louisiana law requires alligator hunters to hunt only on property for which
hide tags are issued. The areas where
alligator hunting is permitted are determined on a yearly basis by wildlife
biologists, whose decisions are based on the need to maintain a healthy
alligator population. If hunters poach
alligators from areas for which they do not have tags, then the integrity of
the entire alligator management system is undermined, thereby threatening
Louisiana’s alligator population and alligator industry, which is a significant
component of Louisiana’s economy.
According to court documents, Dupont, in
violation of law, guided his clients to places in Louisiana, regardless of
whether he had tags for the areas, where he hoped his clients would kill
trophy-sized alligators so that they would pay him a trophy fee in addition to
the guiding fees.
The case was prosecuted by Shennie Patel
and Susan L. Park of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and
Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, with assistance from
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana. The case was investigated by the Louisiana
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Law Enforcement Division and by the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement.
Posts
