AFA in action ... NEWS and VIEWS

Abstract

Ron Holtz and Bill Vaugh assisted in the move of the home
office from California to Phoenix, Arizona and were inadvertently
omitted from the list in the June/July "News and Views"
section.
Parrot Smuggler Gets 27 Months
by Francisco Gonzales
(Reprinted from The Monitor, McAllen, Texas)
A Tennessee man who pleaded guilty to parrot smuggling
charges received a 27-month prison term Thursday in McAllen
federal court.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa gave William Zoner, 51,
the maximum penalty allowed under federal sentencing guidelines.
Zoner pleaded guilty in April to one count of smuggling 88
parrots into the United States from Mexico in the trunk of a car.
Thirty-eight of the parrots died in transit.
"The fact that you brought the birds into this country illegally
is totally unacceptable," said Hinojosa as he sentenced Zoner.
"The inhumane treatment of the birds is totally unacceptable:·
Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Leonard called the sentence
"appropriate considering the inhumane treatment of the birds
and the potential dangers to the poultry industry:·

Mexican parrots are potential carriers ofNewcast}e's disease,
a fatal fowl disease. A 1985 outbreak of Newcastle's disease
caused $52 million in damage to the California poultry industry,
Leonard said.

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