On 23 May 2004 02:00:21 GMT, EROSPAM (Ka30P) wrote:

Mike wrote I had an interesting coversation yesterday with my local
professional
pond guy. He said that here in GA it's a huge fine if you kill a heron
without a license... but the license fee is $25.

It is very important to continued participation in ponding and rec.ponds to dot
all your i's and cross all your t's in this matter as the federal Migratory
Bird Act protects herons.

Oh-oh, did I miss a dot? You aren't threatening to revoke my rec.ponds
posting permit here, are you? :-)

"A violation of the act is considered a misdemeanor offense resulting in fines
up to $500 and six months in jail."

Ummmm, I think that's pretty much what I implied...dire consequences.
I suspect they reserve the "6 months in jail" bit for those psycho
types who would kill the critter for fun. You know, the types who tied
firecrackers to cat's tails and shoot at bald eagles.

and
"The Great Blue Heron has earned the enmity of man in some areas where
goldfish, turtles, frogs, or trout are raised commercially. Once one of these
herons learns how simple it is to obtain food at a trout hatchery, for example,
it may be trapped or shot. However, only individual troublesome birds justify
this practice, which can only be done by permit. "


Ooooookay. (BTW, I'm told the permit is cheap.)

Item of note: The guy who told me this lost a "$800 koi" (his words)
to a heron, so I think he looked into the matter in some depth.

On rec.ponds we have heard of one ponder who was allowed
to do this. And I do believe it was in the South somewhere.


Yee-ha! Georgia -is- in the South somewhere!


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

I really have no intention of killing a heron. I just thought it was
interesting that a permit is only $25. I would have expected it to
cost several hundred.

Or maybe it's very difficult to qualify for purchasing the permit.

Mike

Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."