Trinidad: Three charged with illegal possession of Scarlet Ibis

(TRINIDAD GUARDIAN) Two Chi­nese na­tion­als and a Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­al are sched­uled to ap­pear be­fore a Port-of-Spain mag­is­trate to­mor­row charged with pos­ses­sion of a dead ju­ve­nile Scar­let Ibis.

The men, how­ev­er, will not face the re­cent­ly in­creased fines im­ple­ment­ed to pro­tect the na­tion­al bird, as those changes have not been Gazetted as yet.

The three men were held with the pro­tect­ed bird in El So­cor­ro, San Juan, by Game War­den Richard Ram­lo­gan ear­li­er to­day.

They will ap­pear at the Port-of-Spain 3rd Mag­is­trate’s Court to­mor­row charged for pos­ses­sion of the na­tion­al bird.

The Scar­let Ibis has been des­ig­nat­ed an En­vi­ron­men­tal­ly Sen­si­tive Species (ESS). That des­ig­na­tion of­fers ad­di­tion­al pro­tec­tion with puni­tive mea­sures, specif­i­cal­ly in ac­cor­dance with sec­tion 70 (2) of the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Act, Chap­ter 35:05, which states ‘any per­son who know­ing­ly or reck­less­ly en­dan­gers or ad­verse­ly im­pacts the species will be li­able to a fine of $100,000 and im­pris­on­ment for two years.