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 News from Around the Americas | August 2005 
Cooperation is Key for Mexico, U.S. Game Wardens
 Ed Zieralski - Union-Tribune
| | The joint international task force will team up when dove season opens in Mexico, and afterward to prevent abuse of bird limits by American hunters in Mexico. |
Game wardens from Mexico will join U.S. game wardens on Thursday to observe how enforcement is done here at the annual dove opener in Imperial Valley.
Lt. Joe Brana, a 26-year veteran of the Department of Fish and Game based here, said one or possibly two Mexican game wardens will ride along with his opening-day enforcement team of state and federal game wardens. Dove season opens Thursday, with shooting time set for 5:47 a.m.
"I'm looking forward to it because it's something we've never tried before," Brana said.
It's all part of a new cooperative agreement between PROFEPA, Mexico's federal Ministry for Environmental Protection, the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The joint international task force will team up again Saturday, which is when dove season opens in Mexico, and afterward to patrol the border and prevent abuse of bird limits by American hunters in Mexico. American hunters have a well-earned reputation for going into Mexico and shooting more than their allowable limits of doves, pheasants and quail.
"(Mexican officials) are like us in that they want to protect their resources," said John Brooks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's San Diego-based special agent who will direct the operation on the federal level. "There will be several joint task force operations this year geared to preventing those shenanigans, where U.S. hunters shoot thousands of birds over there and then try to bring more than their limit back. (U.S.) hunters need to stay within the law over there. They need to shoot only what their UMAs (Units for the Conservation of Wildlife) call for."
Brooks said much of the present spirit of cooperation between Mexico's fish and game agencies and their U.S. counterparts traces back to five years ago and the manner in which Brooks and his agency handled parrots smuggled from Mexico. The parrots were released back to Mexico promptly when the USFWS set up a repatriation program with PROFEPA. That more than impressed Mexican officials.
"It was the first time Mexican birds were given back to Mexico like that," said Roberto Castellanos of PROFEPA, speaking from Baja on Wednesday. "It was a very emotional time."
Castellanos said Brooks and Brana both are very "easy to get along with" and that his game wardens are looking forward to joining them for Thursday's dove opener in Imperial Valley.
"We have accepted an invitation from Joe Brana because we believe this will be a good opportunity for our field representatives to familiarize themselves with the process they use and compare it to what we do," Castellanos said. |
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