* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Monday, July 14, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Kehoe repeals paid sick leave, allows several counties in the Ozarks to have entertainment districts in bill signings – KY3

    Kehoe repeals paid sick leave, allows several counties in the Ozarks to have entertainment districts in bill signings – KY3

    Emily Deschanel was scolded during “Bones” season 1 for being ‘late and unprepared’: ‘I was just beside myself’ – Yahoo

    Emily Deschanel was scolded during “Bones” season 1 for being ‘late and unprepared’: ‘I was just beside myself’ – Yahoo

    How you can see new movies early – Yahoo

    Unlock the Secret to Watching New Movies Before Everyone Else!

    Immersive sports and entertainment venue Cosm set to build its 5th location in Cleveland – WKYC

    Cosm Reveals Exciting Vision for Its 5th Immersive Sports and Entertainment Venue in Cleveland

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN’s Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+ – Sports Video Group

    Samantha Brady Reveals How Monumental+ is Transforming Sports Streaming with Direct-to-Consumer Access

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

    Nordic Air Defence raises $3 million to expand operations and advance drone defence technology – Defence Industry Europe

    Nordic Air Defence Lands $3 Million to Transform Drone Defense and Supercharge Operations

    China’s energy dominance in three charts – MIT Technology Review

    How China Is Powering Its Energy Dominance: A Visual Breakdown

    Meta Acquires AI Startup PlayAI to Enhance Voice Technology Capa – GuruFocus

    Meta Acquires AI Startup PlayAI to Revolutionize Voice Technology Capabilities

    Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

    Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Kehoe repeals paid sick leave, allows several counties in the Ozarks to have entertainment districts in bill signings – KY3

    Kehoe repeals paid sick leave, allows several counties in the Ozarks to have entertainment districts in bill signings – KY3

    Emily Deschanel was scolded during “Bones” season 1 for being ‘late and unprepared’: ‘I was just beside myself’ – Yahoo

    Emily Deschanel was scolded during “Bones” season 1 for being ‘late and unprepared’: ‘I was just beside myself’ – Yahoo

    How you can see new movies early – Yahoo

    Unlock the Secret to Watching New Movies Before Everyone Else!

    Immersive sports and entertainment venue Cosm set to build its 5th location in Cleveland – WKYC

    Cosm Reveals Exciting Vision for Its 5th Immersive Sports and Entertainment Venue in Cleveland

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN’s Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+ – Sports Video Group

    Samantha Brady Reveals How Monumental+ is Transforming Sports Streaming with Direct-to-Consumer Access

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

    Nordic Air Defence raises $3 million to expand operations and advance drone defence technology – Defence Industry Europe

    Nordic Air Defence Lands $3 Million to Transform Drone Defense and Supercharge Operations

    China’s energy dominance in three charts – MIT Technology Review

    How China Is Powering Its Energy Dominance: A Visual Breakdown

    Meta Acquires AI Startup PlayAI to Enhance Voice Technology Capa – GuruFocus

    Meta Acquires AI Startup PlayAI to Revolutionize Voice Technology Capabilities

    Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

    Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Undercover wildlife officer with UV-inked turtles nets $35K fine for Calgarian making illegal imports

April 24, 2024
in News
Undercover wildlife officer with UV-inked turtles nets $35K fine for Calgarian making illegal imports
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Calgary

Two years after border officials discovered live turtles, turtle eggs and turtle husbandry items in packages marked as “children’s building blocks,” a Calgary man has been fined $35,000 after admitting to offences under little-known federal legislation. 

Zhongmin Zheng, 42, of Calgary pleaded guilty to 2 offences

Meghan Grant · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2024 8:07 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

A small snapping turtle is photographed in a man's hand.

A snapping turtle is seen in this 2013 file photo. Snapping turtles were among various kinds of turtles an Alberta resident was fined for illegally importing and selling. (The Associated Press)

Two years after border officials discovered live turtles, turtle eggs and equipment to breed turtles in packages marked as “children’s building blocks,” a Calgary man has been fined $35,000 for the illegal importation and sale of the specimens after admitting to federal offences. 

Zhongmin Zheng, 42, pleaded guilty last week to two charges under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of Interprovincial Trade Act.

The investigation that led to the charges involved turtles covertly marked with UV ink and an undercover wildlife officer posing as a Canada Post employee.

The reptile racket was uncovered on May 24, 2022, when the Canada Border Services Agency found two boxes of live turtles at a Canada Post mail centre in Mississauga, Ont. 

Details of the offences come from an agreed statement of facts filed as part of Zheng’s guilty pleas in court last week. 

The packages had arrived from China and were addressed to Zheng’s Calgary home

Wildlife officers from Environment and Climate Change Canada were called in.

Declared as ‘children’s building blocks’

The investigation revealed that between Jan. 1 and May 23, 2022, Zheng had imported eight packages from China, declared as “children’s building blocks.”

Two packages had been delivered to Zheng’s home, two were at the Mississauga facility, three were en route to Alberta and one was still en route from China. 

The shipments arrived in cooler boxes and Tupperware containers. 

Investigators obtained search warrants and examined the packages held at the Mississauga and Calgary mail centres. Inside the shipments, they discovered turtles, eggs, turtle stickers and “various items identified as being needed for turtle husbandry.”

One package had freshly hatched turtles. Another contained a dead turtle.

Wildlife officer goes undercover with UV-inked turtles

None of the shipments contained permits from Canada or China.

Environment Canada officers then applied a unique number to each turtle and egg using UV ink visible only with the use of a UV light.

Investigators also obtained an order requiring Canada Post employees to “provide all reasonable assistance” to conduct a “controlled delivery.”

A small turtle rests in a human hand.

Snapping turtles, pictured here in 2014 at an emergency veterinary hospital in Michigan, were among the kinds of turtles an Alberta resident illegally imported. (The Associated Press)

On May 27, 2022, an undercover wildlife officer posing as a delivery person rang the doorbell at Zheng’s home in the northwest Calgary community of Scenic Acres. 

A woman answered, identified herself as Zheng’s wife and handed the packages to her husband.

Three hours later, officers arrested Zheng for illegal importation and possession of the turtles. 

Calgary Zoo helps out

The investigators then carried out a search warrant on Zheng’s home. 

They seized 53 live turtles, 33 eggs and two dead turtles — all of which were in the basement. 

Investigators noted a “strong ammonia smell.”

“The water in the terrariums was a yellow-brown colour and contained suspended solid waste,” according to the agreed statement of facts.

Officers found the UV-inked turtles, which had been taken out of the shipping packaging and placed with other turtles in various terrariums.

The seized turtles and eggs were brought to the Calgary Zoo, which set up spaces designed for reptiles, with temperature and humidity controls.

Kijiji ads for turtles 

The zoo kept one eastern box turtle and one pink-bellied side-necked turtle while the others were donated to Canada’s Dinosaur Park and Reptile Sanctuary in Indian River, Ont.

Zoo officials noted some of the turtles had small bite wounds on their necks but otherwise “had no significant health abnormalities.”

The seized eggs were euthanized “by being plunged in liquid nitrogen.”

WATCH | How invasive turtles harm Canadian ones: 

Invasive species of turtles pose ‘great threat’ to native species of turtles, says wildlife coordinator

Red-eared slider turtles are not native to Canada, but they are now quite common in Windsor’s Ojibway Park. CBC Windsor’s Michael Evans spoke to Wings Animal Rehabilitation wildlife coordinator Alexander Campbell about the growing problem he says they’ve created, and how it started.

Some of the turtles and eggs were determined to fall into a category of “species not necessarily threatened with extinction but in which trade must be controlled” under the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species.

Through further investigation, officers discovered Zheng had 10 active Kijiji ads selling turtles. 

3 years to pay fine 

Each turtle sold for between $100 and $300 with buyers in several provinces.

Forensic searches of Zheng’s electronic devices showed he had sold snapping turtles, an eastern mud turtle, a red cheeked mud turtle, a common musk turtle, a razorback musk turtle and 10 golden thread turtles.

In an interview with officers, Zheng said he’d been importing turtles since 2021 and disclosed that sometimes the turtles died from fighting or temperature and humidity issues.

He also admitted he knew selling snapping turtles was illegal.

After hearing the plea, negotiated by defence lawyer Greg Dunn and prosecutor Omelia Tedesco-White, Justice Bruce Fraser gave Zheng three years to pay his $35,000 fine. 

Zheng is banned from owning any live animal for two years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meghan Grant is a justice affairs reporter. She has been covering courts, crime and stories of police accountability in southern Alberta for more than a decade. Send Meghan a story tip at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter.

Follow her on Twitter
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : CBC.ca – https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-turtle-investigation-illegal-importation-fine-court-plea-1.7182875?cmp=rss

Tags: newsUndercoverwildlife
Previous Post

Former priest charged with sexually abusing children in Nunavut granted bail

Next Post

Senate Republicans prod Justice Department to crack down on ‘antisemitic, pro-Hamas mobs’ on campus

Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

July 14, 2025
Caitlin Clark Grabs Attention With Pregame Outfit Sunday – Yahoo News

Caitlin Clark Stuns Fans with Eye-Catching Pregame Outfit on Sunday

July 14, 2025
Ecological corridors will be getting a boost – Kelowna Courier

Ecological Corridors Poised for a Major Transformation

July 14, 2025
Scientists To Resurrect Tallest Bird To Have Ever Lived On Earth – NDTV

Scientists To Resurrect Tallest Bird To Have Ever Lived On Earth – NDTV

July 14, 2025
Science museum discovers dinosaur fossils hidden under its parking lot – The Washington Post

Hidden Dinosaur Fossils Unearthed Beneath Science Museum Parking Lot

July 14, 2025
Lifestyle vs Medical Treatment – HCPLive

Lifestyle vs Medical Treatment – HCPLive

July 14, 2025
Donald Trump showered in boos at Club World Cup final on American soil – Yahoo Sports

Donald Trump Booed Loudly by Fans at U.S. Club World Cup Final

July 14, 2025
Russia seizes $50 billion in assets as economy shifts during war in Ukraine, research shows – Reuters

Russia Seizes $50 Billion in Assets Amid Major Economic Shift During Ukraine War

July 14, 2025
Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

July 14, 2025
Indiana axes public health programs and staff as Braun aims to end DEI – WFYI

Indiana Slashes Public Health Programs and Staff Amid Push to End DEI Initiatives

July 14, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (720)
  • Economy (743)
  • Entertainment (21,630)
  • General (15,882)
  • Health (9,780)
  • Lifestyle (750)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (744)
  • Politics (753)
  • Science (15,961)
  • Sports (21,241)
  • Technology (15,728)
  • World (726)

Recent News

Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

July 14, 2025
Caitlin Clark Grabs Attention With Pregame Outfit Sunday – Yahoo News

Caitlin Clark Stuns Fans with Eye-Catching Pregame Outfit on Sunday

July 14, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version