Canadian Bird Smugglers Hit with Record Fine Plus JailTORONTO, Ontario, Canada, July 10, 2000 (ENS) - An Ontario court has handed down the largest fine ever imposed under federal legislation for wildlife smuggling in Canada.
The Ontario Court of Justice in Welland, Ontario, jailed Mike Flikkema for three months and fined him and his son Harold Flikkema C$75,000 (US$50,676) after they entered guilty pleas last week to criminal charges of smuggling tropical finches across international borders.
The Flikkemas were arrested in February in Canada following a 17 month investigation by Environment Canada and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Mike Flikkema, his wife Johanne, and their son Harold faced a total of 483 charges laid under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act for illegally importing and exporting tropical birds.
The investigation involved almost 5,000 birds. Last month, Johanne Flikkema was convicted and fined US$7,500 in a U.S. court. She is currently serving a six month sentence in an American prison following her conviction on two felony charges in this case. She will face similar charges in Canadian courts upon her release in December.
The Flikkemas ran Flikkema Aviaries in Fenwick, in Ontario's Niagara Peninsula. They smuggled several species of tropical finches, which are colourful birds highly sought by the pet trade, bird breeders and collectors.
Many of the canary size finches were captured from the wild in Africa, and were shipped through Europe into Canada. Many were then exported to the U.S. Several of these species are threatened by over exploitation in the wild, and are listed under the world wide Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Gary Colgan, chief of Wildlife Enforcement of Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service, said the Flikkemas are well known to Environment Canada. "Mike and Johanne have a long history of wildlife violations going back to 1982," said Colgan.
"But this is an excellent sentence, not just because of the size of the fine and the jail sentence. It includes lots of conditions - probation, community service, plus we will have greater access to their business records."
Colgan said a high percentage of birds die when captured from the wild, and combating the illegal trade is complex and time consuming. "We could never have succeeded in this prosecution without the excellent cooperation our special operations unit received from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."
From December 1, 1997 to October 6, 1999, Flikkema Aviaries imported 19 shipments of exotic birds, containing an estimated 12,000 finches, of which an estimated 5,000 were listed under CITES.
Nine of these shipments contained illegal birds - CITES listed birds that were not covered by an import permit. The Flikkemas were charged with illegally importing an estimated 756 tropical finches, 30 parakeets and 20 mynas at an approximate total value of Cdn$19,000 (US$12,838).
The Flikkemas forwarded birds from these shipments to the U.S. without proper export permits. They were charged with illegally exporting 3,882 tropical finches valued at an estimated C$97,000 (US$65,540).
In 1999, Mike Flikkema was fined C$4,250 (US$2,871) for similar offences.
The Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) was passed in Canada in 1996 to meet Canada's obligations under CITES. Environment Canada is responsible for the enforcement of this legislation.
Individuals convicted under WAPPRIITA face a fine of up to $150,000 or five years in prison upon indictment. Convicted corporations can face fines of up to $300,000.
CITES was established to protect wild animals and plants from over exploitation by regulating their international trade. Canada was an original party to the Convention in 1975 and is among 151 other countries around the world that enforce CITES today.