DOTHAN, Ala ( WDHN ) — A Eufaula man accused of helping a Georgia doctor smuggle in thousands of illegal taxidermy birds and eggs into U.S. has been sentenced.
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A statement from the Department of Justice revealed Toney Jones, of Eufaula, was sentenced to six months probation after pleading guilty to an Endangered Species Act charge.
The second suspect in the case, Dr. John Waldrop of Cataula, Georgia, was sentenced to serve three years of probation and pay a $900,000 fine. He pled guilty to conspiracy to smuggle wildlife and ESA violations.
According to the DOJ, Waldrop, with Jones’ help, amassed a collection of 1,401 taxidermy bird mounts and 2,594 eggs. This included:
- Four eagles protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act
- 179 bird and 193 egg species that were listed on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- 212 bird and 32 egg species covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
“This included incredibly rare specimens like three eggs of the Nordmann’s Greenshank, an Asian shorebird with only 900 to 1,600 remaining birds in the wild; no North American museum has any Nordmann Greenshank eggs in their collection,” the DOJ said in its statement.
The birds and eggs were imported without the required declarations and permits between 2016 and 2020.
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Previously unsealed indictments for Jones and Dr. Waldrop claim that the two used online sites like eBay and Etsy to buy the hundreds of taxidermized bird mounts and thousands of live eggs from countries including Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay…