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Humane Society In D.C. Chastised For Bird Killings
By Avram Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 18, 2001; Page A01

The Washington Humane Society, charged with protecting animals from cruel humans, received a
little obedience training from a judge yesterday for the crime of
euthanizing three mockingbird
hatchlings -- a violation of federal bird protection law.
In a plea bargain that U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina described as a "special situation," the society pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count for capturing the 2-day-old mockingbirds outside the State Department last summer and promptly killing them.
The case, prosecutors said, was representative of a wider pattern of
behavior, which lasted for more than four years and involved 881 protected migratory birds. "A majority
of these birds were captured alive, were sick or injured, and shortly after capture were euthanized," Assistant
U.S. Attorney Ronald L. Walutes Jr. told Urbina.
For the mockingbird incident, the private, nonprofit organization was
sentenced to one year of
unsupervised probation during which all society employees must undergo
training by the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service on migratory bird laws. It also received a "special" Assessment is paid to the U.S. attorney's office. In the agreement, it acknowledged mishandling the much
larger number of birds.
The society, which provides all animal control services under a ,000annual contract with
the District, "inadvertently and unintentionally violated the act," defense attorney Lisa J.Stevenson told Urbina, explaining that the society had not realized it
needed a permit. "The Humane Society assures the court and the community that it is committed to
treating animals humanely . . . and regrets that mistakes have been made."
She said the Humane Society should have kept its staff informed of laws on handling wildlife. Since the investigation began, the society has obtained a permit to receive wild birds and transfer them to licensed rescue groups, but under no circumstances is the society
permitted to euthanize birds.
Fish and Wildlife Services officials said they would have pursued charges against the D.C.
Health Department, which supervises the Humane Society contract, if the law
did not exempt government agencies from prosecution. Health Department officials, though, said the contract
with the Humane Society requires the agency to obey all laws governing its handling of animals.
Looking down at Mary C. Healey, the Humane Society's executive director,
before accepting the plea, Urbina noted with a slight smile that the organization "has not made
any attempt to duck the issue" and that he did not think the defendant posed any "risk of flight."
Nobody laughed.
The case began almost humorously in August when two adult mockingbirds dive-bombed dozens
of pedestrians -- even drawing blood, in some cases -- because they're three
hatchlings were in a nest near the sidewalk. Widespread media coverage focused on the spectacle and on some
workers who were chuckling about it. But as events unfolded, federal
investigators were not
amused.
Within 30 minutes of their arrival at the animal shelter, the birds were put
down with injections
administered by a shelter technician.
"We believe if they had been kept at the shelter, they would not have
survived," Healey told the court. "They were very young." The episode became a criminal matter when a Fish and Wildlife Service agent showed up at the D.C. Animal Shelter and seized four years' worth of records. The files showed that the group improperly handled, and in many cases euthanized, 881 protected birds over four years without a permit required by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The federal law was enacted in 1918 to cover 832 species -- virtually all
the wild birds that migrate through North America, Japan and Russia. Each violation can carry a penalty of six months in prison and a ,000 fine.
Humane Society officials declined to comment outside court yesterday, but a spokeswoman has said the animal shelter is understaffed and overwhelmed with animals. As a result, she said, society employees sometimes fail to fulfill all their obligations.
Christopher Brong, a Fish and Wildlife Service special agent, said yesterday after the hearing that permit procedures are designed not only to protect birds but to ensure that other agencies are told about environmental hazards that often affect wildlife first.
"That network of communication . . . is ongoing in states, but the District
has kind of been doing its own thing for a number of years," Brong said.
"Here you have the Washington Humane Society, which was totally oblivious to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act," he said. "So we had to inform them."

(c) 2001 The Washington Post Company