[BIRD CALLS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRDS FLYING]
[MOOSE CALL]
[UNDERWATER SOUND]
[WAVES CRASHING]
[HELICOPTER SOUND]
[ANIMALS BEING RELEASED SOUND]
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the US Fish and Wildlife
Services Conservation Connect.
Today, we're at the National Conservation Training Center,
but we're down in the Archives Museum.
As you can see behind me, we have a lot of wildlife.
All these wildlife species were confiscated by law enforcement
officers, which is actually the career we're
going to talk to you about today.
Now, just like police officers, they have to uphold the law,
but these are special officers who
work to protect the lives of animals
by ensuring that people do not illegally kill or poach
wildlife, [? and all ?] types of wildlife,
including threatened and endangered
species and migratory birds.
We also have special agents that investigate crimes
that range from international wildlife smuggling
to unlawful migratory game bird hunting
And like all criminal investigators,
they collect evidence, interview witnesses,
make arrests, and help prepare cases for court.
Special agents also investigate the killing
of endangered species and other protected wildlife,
such as eagles, migratory birds, and marine mammals.
They pursue cases involving the destruction
of wildlife habitats.
They investigate oil and chemical spills
that kill wildlife.
And they also work with companies
to reduce hazards to protected species linked
to oil production, electric power lines, wind
farms, and mining operations.
Today, we have with us law enforcement officer Gabe Harper
from Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge.
Officer Harper, thank you for being with us here today.
Thanks for having me, Chelsea.
I appreciate you having me on the show.
Great.
Now, can you tell me and everyone
else here how you became a law enforcement officer?
Well, first of all, there are only about 250 special agents
within the service at any given time.
An academic degree as far as wildlife, forensic psychology,
criminal justice, other related fields like that
would put you in a more advantageous position
to obtain a job.
What kinds of technology do law enforcement officers
use to confiscate and catch criminals?
Well, I'm glad you asked because I brought a few with me.
Oh, great.
First of all, we have this Game Cam.
I like to call this guy my extra set of eyes.
What I would do, I would set this up in a problem area,
and then I can take pictures and photographs.
And then I can come back and analyze the photos,
and then see what's really going on out there.
So this little guy right here, I can put up one,
or I could put up about 20.
It just depends.
Great.
I had this, and I had my Hot Shot Shell Checker.
Now, what's significant about this guy is
when we have hunters that are going out,
and they would possibly shoot waterfowl or different things
like that, I can test the shells and see what type of ammunition
they're using it.
If they're using lead, that might
poison some of the birds like this bald eagle right here,
and we definitely don't want that.
So just dropping that in right there,
I can tell just like that.
Oh, that's amazing.
Lastly, we do a lot of surveillance
in my line of work.
You have to be able to see what's going on.
Binos work good, but when you're working at night,
got to have some night vision goggles.
You can check those guys out and surveillance the area
and see exactly what's going on out there.
So these items like this help me do my job a little bit better.
So one of the cool things about our job
is that we get to patrol in different regions,
from the snowy areas and mountains to Virginia
Beach where you have all the coastal lines.
And in that avenue, you would use an ARV.
Sometimes I would be on a boat.
And then you have some officers that have their own horse.
So it's just a wide range of different patrolling
that can even go on as far as being an officer with the US
Fish and Wildlife Service.
Can you tell me what species we're looking at,
or I guess I should say parts of species we're looking at?
Well, first of all, you see a lot of ivory right here,
but it's actually three.
This table is carved from some ivory,
and you can just imagine how many animals were used just
to construct this one table.
And this is happening every day.
But you have an elephant tusk right here, the larger one.
And then we also have the walrus right here.
You know, we have Native Americans,
they still use bald eagle feathers and talons
in some of their ritual activities.
But this one, as a matter of fact,
these talons were made into a necklace,
and this was used illegally.
So this was confiscated by some of our law enforcement
officers, and rightly so.
We want to put an end to the illegal activity.
Thank you so much, Officer Harper, for all the information
and insight into the work that you do.
Remember, you guys can also help spread the word about wildlife
and educate others about the importance
of protecting those animals.
We'll see you next time on the US Fish and Wildlife Services
Conservation Connect.
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