14/07/2005 - An Ontario
man was charged yesterday for selling endangered
species on the Internet. Mark J. Gleberzon,
age 36, of Toronto is facing 44 counts under
the Wild Animal Plant Protection and Regulation
of International and Interprovincial Trade
Act. The charges relate to the possession,
offer for sale, sale, import, export and interprovincial
transport of endangered animals and their
parts between October 2002 and May 2005. The
endangered animals included: African elephant,
Himalayan pheasant, birds of paradise, sperm
whale, walrus and long-eared owls. The majority
of the sales investigated took place on an
Internet auction site.
Mr. Gleberzon was arrested in May 2005, by
United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Special Agents at LaGuardia International
Airport in New York City, for similar U.S.
offences.
The laying of the charges concluded a 17-month
investigation jointly undertaken by special
agents of the USFWS and federal wildlife officers
employed by Environment Canada’s Canadian
Wildlife Service in Ontario.
Activities of this nature are carefully controlled
under the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), an international treaty with 167
participating nations spanning the globe.
Mr. Gleberzon faces fines ranging between
$25,000 and $150,000 per count and possible
imprisonment between six months and five years
upon conviction.
