A 76-year-old Georgia doctor must pay a $900,000 fine after pleading guilty to trafficking protected birds and eggs, in what federal prosecutors call one of the largest-ever financial penalties assessed under the Endangered Species Act.
The span of Dr. John Waldrop’s reported bird-and-egg trafficking, too, was described by prosecutors as eye-opening, as they tallied his extensive collection of 1,401 taxidermy bird mounts and 2,594 eggs.
“The scale of this investigation underscores the critical importance of protecting our natural resources,” Douglas Ault, assistant director of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, said in a statement, adding that “this is one of the largest bird trafficking cases in history.”
In addition to the fine imposed Wednesday, a Brooklyn-based federal judge also sentenced Waldrop to serve three years of probation. As part of the same case, Alabama resident Toney Jones was sentenced to six months of probation.
