Wildlife photographer pleads guilty to violating Endangered Species Act

A Florida news outlet has reported that a prominent bird photographer has pled guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act. On at least eight occasions, this person was observed harassing nesting snail kites in order to get them to fly so his workshop customers could get flight shots. Snail kites are on the endangered species list; harassing them is a Federal offense. More details in the link below:

http://www.wesh.com/news/central-fl...endangered-species-act/24700816#ixzz2uZKdZOui

I hope that all photographers read the news article and act accordingly.

John

So disappointing! TFS.

I have known about the case against Jim Neiger pretty much since its inception. The fact is that Jim was railroaded. It is a very unfortunate case of government gone amok. The "evidence" was ridiculous, a short video of him photographing snail kites from more than 100 feet away, sitting quietly in his boat. He was put into a corner as far as defending himself as the costs involved would have been astronomical.
Have you ever heard of someone who took a plea as the best option in an effort to save themselves and their families only to be proven innocent later?

Jim Niger was protective of the birds, often cautioning fisherman to stay away from their unseen nests. And while studying and photographing the birds for many years he often shared his findings with research teams that I believe were from the state of Florida. Jim is the victim here.

Thanks for sharing this insight, Artie. Always helps to hear the other side of the story.

The "evidence" was ridiculous, a short video of him photographing snail kites from more than 100 feet away,

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The news article states the following (boldface added by me): "The Endangered Species Act requires people to stay at least 500 feet from nests of the Snail Kite, an endangered raptor."

So, if he was 100 feet away, then he violated the law. Pretty simple...

John

This is what I looked at http://www.wesh.com/news/central-fl...-to-violating-endangered-species-act/24700816

I agree 100% Artie! Jim had no choice but to enter a plea. He simply couldn't afford the enormous legal fees (six figures) to defend himself and clear his name. Had he not accepted the plea deal, he would have faced the prospect of both prison time and a much heavier fine. The term 'railroaded' is entirely appropriate here.

I have never once seen Jim harass Snail Kites or approach nests. I don't know of another photographer who cares more about the well being of these birds.

Here's a photo of a group of researchers banding a female Snail Kite that I took from Jim's boat back in 2009. I'd wager that this is far more stressful on a Snail Kite than Jim photographing from his boat 50-100 feet from a bird on a perch.

And for an endangered species, you'd think that researchers would place transmitters onto females in a way that doesn't make mating difficult or impossible. Also taken from Jim's boat.

John Guastella said:

The news article states the following (boldface added by me): "The Endangered Species Act requires people to stay at least 500 feet from nests of the Snail Kite, an endangered raptor."

So, if he was 100 feet away, then he violated the law. Pretty simple...

John

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They offered no evidence that he was close to a nest; only that he was close to a bird. I've seen both the videos and the still frames that they submitted as evidence.

Somebody help me out here...when it says:

'in lieu of turning over his boat, motor and camera, Nieger has also agreed to pay $9000 in fines'

Does that mean he can still lose his property?

It also sounds like the prosecution could still change their minds in regards to prison time and
fines?

Doug

I have been on Jim's boat several times and this is my personal experience : We always stayed pretty far from the nests and in no way the kites seem to notice or care about us. In fact activity was low at that time and we didn't get many frames (Doug was on the boat too). We gave up on the location and ventured somewhere else because we didn't want to get close to the nests.

At the same time we saw fish and wildlife people were blasting through the "protected" kite area with the air boat in a no-wake zone full-throttle all day long. Jim's boat on the other hand is equipped with a small electric motor that he uses near the kite area to cruise slowly, quietly and with no wake.

I'm sorry Jim couldn't afford a top notch lawyer to clear his name.

Other than jim and the respective researchers no one has spent more time on Toho with the kites then me. I've decided its best if I stay out of this discussion though. The following is simply a link to better educate those who are not familiar with the kites. Nothing more nothing less.

http://m.myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/wildlife/snail-kites/

I haven't posted here in a long, long time. I caught the news about Mr. Neiger from my Facebook feed. I've been a fan of his work for years, and I pretty much immediately assumed there was much more to the story. Thank you Arthur, Doug, and Arash for confirming what I suspected. I've worked in the field with biologists before, here in Canada, and I can pretty much attest to a lot more stress being created at times by them than any credible photographer I've ever encountered. Of course they make the argument it's all for the eventual good of the birds, but I have a suspicion a lot of it is for the good of justifying their own jobs, or gathering data for a thesis that will be added to a heap of other largely ignored works generated on a yearly basis.
I hope Jim Neiger continues his work, and that this is not a sign of what's to come for all of us who photograph wildlife, but I suspect it is.

I too, feel like Jim has gotten the smelly end of the stick.. However, this action should serve notice to a lot of photographers who "push the window" on getting images of Bald Eagles.. I have seen numerous images of Bald Eagles that had to heve been taken fairly close, or greatly cropped.. Remember that 500 feet is almost two football fields distance...

I hope that Jim continues his workshops and comes out of this O.K..

Dave

Very interesting.

It's always good to learn some of this stuff since some of us new photographers are not aware. I only started photographing birds about a year ago and it is a hobby for me. Never knew about some of this restrictions. I have been to Florida before but only did extensive photographing in Gatorland, Orlando. I'm going back to Florida next month and to some reserve and parks and Im very glad to have learn some of this laws/restrictions on certain species. Certainly something I will respect on my trip.

Never knew about some of this restrictions. Certainly something I will respect on my trip.

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Well, if everyone now is more aware of the appropriate behavior around wildlife, then at least something positive will have come from this unfortunate event.

John

You can not be within 500 feet of a nest there is no restriction for perched or flying birds and the bird has to be listed as endangered. Bald Eagles are no longer listed as endangered but they still are protected under a different statue for Bald and Golden Eagles

John Guastella said:

Well, if everyone now is more aware of the appropriate behavior around wildlife, then at least something positive will have come from this unfortunate event.

John

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What is appropriate behavior and who gets to define it outside of federal and state regulation. The only reason Jim was charged was do to the special status of the Kites if he was next to an Osprey nest there would have been no issues. The Ospreys on Blue Cypress are routinely approached on their nest and they are thriving with last years nesting population being the largest ever counted on the lake. Now when I was on lake Toho my guide being a Florida wildlife biologist was well aware of the 500 yard rule for the nest so we set up within 25 yards of a feeding platform and had Kites fly right by the boat all legal. So were we to close according to you or some birder without a clue.

Don Lacy said:

You can not be within 500 feet of a nest there is no restriction for perched or flying birds and the bird has to be listed as endangered. Bald Eagles are no longer listed as endangered but they still are protected under a different statue for Bald and Golden Eagles

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There are restrictions for bald eagle, nests and hunting perches. BEs are not Endangered by they're considered of Special Concern, despite their huge, growing numbers. I shoot at a Hunting Perch which literally has a picnic table under it. The law allows for historical bird/people usage, so that I don't believe that I'm violating any law when I'm much, much closer than 500-feet, while casual strollers literally walk underneath the birds.

Still, this should be of great concern to all here. I'm on very good terms with the rangers at this particular park and they're very realistic about what's reasonable. This is a Colorado State park. Still, I've been standing in the same place and have some know-it-all from a local raptor rescue read me the riot act. In my limited experience, Federal agents can be a lot less understanding than our Colorado State rangers. If some do-gooder reports you for harassing a raptor, it might be expensive to defend yourself.

We should all know the exact status of the birds that we photograph and be aware of others in the area that might be anti-photography. Most "birders" are understanding, but some are downright hostile. You never know when they might be good friends with a Federal agent and cause you a lot of trouble.

Can you tell the difference between a Sage Grouse and a Gunnison Sage Grouse by just looking? If you're going to shoot either in Colorado, then you **** well better know, since the Gunnison is Endangered and SG is merely of Special Concern. There's a road where you can park in your car blind on the shoulder and the SG will literally surround you. That's okay under the SC rules, but not Endangered. It turns out that their territories overlap, so be careful. That's just an example.