International Courant
A New York man was charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly smuggling over $200,000 value of deceased, protected butterflies, together with exceptionally uncommon ones often called birdwings, into and out of the USA by means of on-line retailers like eBay and Etsy.
In a press launch, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in Brooklyn stated that 75-year-old Charles Limmer allegedly trafficked “unlawfully imported wildlife on Web platforms” between October 2022 and September 2023.
Birdwing butterflies, named for his or her giant dimension and birdlike flight, are endangered and guarded butterflies. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star through Getty Photographs)
The six-count indictment in opposition to Limmer accuses him of working with abroad collaborators to smuggle some 1,000 bugs, together with among the rarest and most endangered moths and butterflies on the earth.
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Prosecutors stated that Limmer hid his scheme by directing his co-conspirators to label the shipments of the protected butterflies as “ornamental wall coverings,” “origami paper craft” and “wall decorations.”
The indictment famous that Limmer expressed contempt for the USA Fish and Wildlife Service, saying, “Screw USFWS… They’re a gang of Orangutans.”
This screengrab of the Etsy web page of a vendor going by “LIMMERENTOMOLOGICA” exhibits 4 birdwing specimens at present on sale on-line. (Etsy through AP)
Federal regulation prohibits the business export or import of wildlife with out permission from the USFWS. Further authorization would have to be secured for endangered species, as a part of a global partnership to guard wildlife from trafficking.
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An eBay web page of a vendor going by “limmerleps” exhibits the account had made greater than 4,600 gross sales on the procuring platform, most of the most up-to-date gross sales have been moths and butterflies. There have been two birdwing specimens at present on sale and two have been offered over the previous yr, in accordance with the web site.
An Etsy web page linked to a vendor going by the identify “Limmer” had 4 advertisements for birdwings nonetheless marketed on Wednesday, together with that includes a set of 5 specimens with an asking value of $133.
This screengrab of the eBay web page of a vendor going by “limmerleps” exhibits two birdwing specimens at present on sale on-line. (eBay through AP)
The 75-year-old’s indictment additionally seeks to drive Limmer to surrender his assortment of over 1,000 butterflies, moths and different bugs that he allegedly illegally trafficked.
If convicted of smuggling, Limmer faces as much as 20 years in jail.
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The Related Press contributed to this report.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a author on the breaking information group for Fox Information Digital. You may attain her on Twitter at @s_rumpfwhitten.
New York man charged for allegedly smuggling $200K of uncommon butterflies, promoting them on eBay, Etsy
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