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Backpacker Magazine – May 2008
Animals can't talk. But Ed Newcomer can. As an elite U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service detective, he goes undercover to protect threatened raptors, bears, even butterflies–and bring poachers and smugglers to court. Inside the agency's latest covert operation.
"Ed, we just took in a red-tailed hawk," said a staffer at the California Wildlife Center, a Malibu clinic for sick and injured animals. "It's been shot."
Newcomer took down the information and tossed the file on the pile. "Ninety-nine percent of shot-hawk cases are unsolvable," Newcomer later told me. "The hawk gets shot, flies away, and dies."
The next week, during an idle moment, Newcomer dialed up the man who had rescued the bird. The guy had no idea who pulled the trigger.
"But you know what's funny?" he told Newcomer. "I found another hawk in my yard a couple days ago, and this one's dead."
That piqued Newcomer's interest. "What'd you do with it?" he asked.
"Put it in my freezer."
The man lived near the Van Nuys airport in typical San Fernando Valley sprawl: tract house after tract house, broken up by the occasional tract house. After interviewing him, Newcomer quickly identified a suspect: a pigeon breeder who lived next door. Marty Ladin was the pigeon fancier's name. Ladin was too curious and too cooperative by half. "What did the neighbors tell you?" he asked Newcomer. "What would happen to somebody who did this?" Then Ladin started vibing creepy. "You carry a weapon?" he asked.
Newcomer nodded. In his head, red flags were waving like May Day in China. He ended the interview cordially, convinced that Marty Ladin was his guy. But aside from a frozen hawk corpse, Newcomer had no evidence. So he cooked up a plan. He had Ladin meet him for another interview. At this one, Newcomer brought two videotapes. He put them on the table as he talked.
"You ever notice that street light near your house?" Newcomer asked Ladin. "It's got a camera in it. When you shot that hawk, we were looking at you."
The two video tapes were blank. There was no camera.
The bluff worked. Ladin confessed.
At the time, Newcomer was still the rookie agent in the Torrance office, even though he was 37 years old. He'd joined the Fish and Wildlife Service after a stint as a state prosecuting attorney in Olympia, Washington. "In order to do undercover work you've got to have brass balls," says Marie Palladini, Newcomer's former boss. Palladini, who recently retired as head of the Torrance office, is now a criminal justice professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills. "You've got to be creative and a little theatrical. When Ed pulled that bluff I knew he was going to do great things."
Marty Ladin paid a $5,000 fine for shooting two hawks, a violation of the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Something kept nagging at Newcomer, though. "During our interview, Marty told me about these pigeon clubs," he later recalled. "They're all over Southern California. Hundreds of guys. If Marty's got a problem with hawks, I'm thinking every pigeon breeder has a problem with hawks." Newcomer did the math. If hundreds of breeders were each killing a handful of raptors, that added up to thousands of hawks and falcons killed every year.
He told Palladini he wanted to play his hunch. She was skeptical. "Follow it up," she said. "But don't spend too much time on it."

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READERS COMMENTS
they have enough time to infiltrate groups spy and colelct evidence, whynot get them to change their way of thinking like a real participating member of society? a jedi knight if you will "hey man you got to be kidding me youre doing this... dont you know... im going to spy on you then, if i find out this is true im telling! and i know about so and so selling... you're the head of the damn fan club you have the power to change everyones views" oh wait i know why, theres no bonus pay from the "punishment"
they have enough time to infiltrate groups spy and colelct evidence, whynot get them to change their way of thinking like a real participating member of society? a jedi knight if you will "hey man you got to be kidding me youre doing this... dont you know... im going to spy on you then, if i find out this is true im telling! and i know about so and so selling... you're the head of the damn fan club you have the power to change everyones views" oh wait i know why, theres no bonus pay from the "punishment"
Cats and small dogs shouldn't be left along for predators to snatch. They are themselves a nuisance if left to roam, not to mention other dangers out there for them - people are mean, especially to cats. It comes down to personal responsibility. Don't want Fluffy or Fido taken, don't leave them alone outdoors.
I don't think we're here to manage anything. I think we're supposed to respect life and live in harmony with other creatures. YMMV.
It's really strange that someone can appreciate pigeons so much in their own collection and not appreciate raptors........such that they kill them and in such cruel ways.
I can picture those agents crawling in the field with AR15's, I'm sure they didn't stop in the field. The agents comming after me were stealing my animals (turtles) for several months and asked me to participate in some elaborate undercover purchases to help them that they later spun around on a search warrant. I've got 3 law suits on file against the various agents. I was finally given a trial after 3 years where I was acquitted on 21 charges. I've got my own opinion of Federal USFWS agents, which is that some of them are criminals far worse then the REAL wildlife violators they stalk. Illegal searches, lies to get a search warrant, planted evidence, false charges, false summary of laws to a judge or prosecutor to get search warrants or charges. Lieing in court. But killing raptors is horrible, especially with bleach and ammonia.......but I haven't heard the undercover recording myself, so I'm skeptical knowing what I know about the USFWS!
yup, these men were protecting their birds like how bops are being protected. i know most of em and they're good mens. they are cheaters tho however because all roller fanciers fly rollers and have to face bops attacking their birds but those who shot them have less bops and is easier for them to fly their rollers.
these men were protecting their birds. jus like protecting bop's. bop's should be spreaded in the forests more.
The bible? Give me a break--thinking like that has left us with a withered planet where the only thing that thrives anymore are (some) humans.
We only think we're superior. Actually, some of us are obvioiusly worse than animals. The hawks, after all, are only killing their prey. Navarro and McGhee, with their bleach and stick--what they're doing is torture, absolutely malice. They make me sick.
And all for a bunch of flying rats--go DeFazio indeed.
Hey Billy, I have neighbor who hates pigeons and if they land on his barn he shots them no matter if your standing in you yard or not, doesn't matter. My self I shoot lose dogs, even if I know it's yours or not. Where does it end.
I can't believe these negative comments. These guys are heroes! Great article as well, I'd love to see more articles like this in Backpacker.
I wonder if people would feel differently if they started losing small dogs and cats to hawks. Would you feel differently if your prized family member was killed by a hawk. It seems one small special interest group dictates the laws the rest have to follow. Kids are abused by family members every day and they get a slap on the wrist. Someone hurts an animal and look out. When did we elevate animals above ourselves. Who decides the value of one animal over another. I'm sure the pigeon fanciers love their animals just as much as everyone else. If a coyote kills a baby lamb nobody has a problem with a farmer killing the coyote. If a mosquito lands on my arm and I kill it some entomologist may have a problem with me. If you have a problem being at the top of the food chain, hide in the closet with your friends and leave the rest of us common sense god-fearing Americans alone. I'm tired of the whining. Before you respond to my comment think about what you ate today, what you're wearing and who that might offend. Hey folks, bottom line we are all offended by something. We were put on this earth to manage the creatures here not be managed by them.
I wonder if people would feel differently if they started losing small dogs and cats to hawks. Would you feel differently if your prized family member was killed by a hawk. It seems one small special interest group dictates the laws the rest have to follow. Kids are abused by family members every day and they get a slap on the wrist. Someone hurts an animal and look out. When did we elevate animals above ourselves. Who decides the value of one animal over another. I'm sure the pigeon fanciers love their animals just as much as everyone else. If a coyote kills a baby lamb nobody has a problem with a farmer killing the coyote. If a mosquito lands on my arm and I kill it some entomologist may have a problem with me. If you have a problem being at the top of the food chain, hide in the closet with your friends and leave the rest of us common sense god-fearing Americans alone. I'm tired of the whining. Before you respond to my comment think about what you ate today, what you're wearing and who that might offend. Hey folks, bottom line we are all offended by something. We were put on this earth to manage the creatures here not be managed by them.
Undercover and out of control
http://www.tuccille.com/blog/2008/04/undercover-and-out-of-control.html
"Undercover police work has a long and dishonorable history. Undercover officers have infiltrated peaceful anti-war protests and political organizations and often acted as agents provocateurs -- engaging in or provoking illegal activity to give the authorities an excuse to move in and make arrests. Laws against victimless activities like drug use and prostitution almost require the use of undercover agents to induce people to engage in activities that would otherwise go undetected. Since such "crimes" are consensual, there's no wronged party to file a complaint -- unless a police officer covertly engages in a forbidden transaction.
So there's good reason to be leery of people like Ed Newcomer."
Well preliminarly i must say yes we humans are superior Amy.The bible tells us so.
But i sure think these men are wrong and should let nature take its course.
Yes, all life should be respected; but, there is a reason pigeons are often referred to as "flying rats", they are the bottom of the food chain for those raptors. Unfortunate those men can't receive a taste of their own medicine--it may be the only way they would ever understand their wrongdoing.
Go DeFazio (fourth to last paragraph)!
Thats my Rep!
Wow. These bird killing men make me sick. The laws need to be changed. Humans are not superior, we only think we are. The laws should be the same if a man kills/tortures an animal as it is for a human. Life is life and all creatures have feelings. Getting sprayed in the eyes with bleach or stomped to death is cruelty and torture to animals. These men should have been put in jail and their pigeons should have been taken away.
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