TORONTO MAN CHARGED FOR SELLING ENDANGERED ANIMALS ON THE INTERNET
Date: Thursday, July 14 @ 14:35:35 CDT
Topic: Canada
Environment Canada News Release
TORONTO, July 14, 2005 - An Ontario man was charged yesterday for selling endangered species on the Internet. Mark J. Gleberzon, age 36, of Toronto is facing 44 counts under the Wild Animal Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act. The charges relate to the possession, offer for sale, sale, import, export and interprovincial transport of endangered animals and their parts between October 2002 and May 2005. The endangered animals included: African elephant, Himalayan pheasant, birds of paradise, sperm whale, walrus and long-eared owls. The majority of the sales investigated took place on an Internet auction site.
Mr. Gleberzon was arrested in May 2005, by United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Special Agents at LaGuardia International Airport in New York City, for similar U.S. offences.
The laying of the charges concluded a 17-month investigation jointly undertaken by special agents of the USFWS and federal wildlife officers employed by Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service in Ontario.
Activities of this nature are carefully controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty with 167 participating nations spanning the globe.
Mr. Gleberzon faces fines ranging between $25,000 and $150,000 per count and possible imprisonment between six months and five years upon conviction.
For more information Click Here
|
|