A Gilroy man has been fined $7,000 and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service for killing birds.
California Department of Fish and Game wardens found 335 dead birds, including ducks, geese and migratory birds, on Peter Ignatius Ciraulo's property off Pacheco Pass Highway. Warden Patrick Foy said the limit is 14 ducks and eight geese.
The 42-year-old man pleaded no contest to three poaching-related charges.
"Not since the market poaching days of the early 1900s have we seen waterfowl poaching of this scope," said Nancy Foley, chief of the department's law enforcement division.
Upon inspection of the property, wardens reported poaching beyond anything they had ever seen, Foy said.
"He had what we believe to be every single species of waterfowl that migrates into California," he said. "What's also odd is that poachers generally use the birds for something, they'll eat them or sell them. But this guy didn't do anything like that. He just stuffed them in his freezer. There's no logical answer as to what he was doing with all these birds."
Among the hundred of bird corpses, wardens found a swan and at least one sandhill crane - both protected species in California.
Besides community service, Ciraulo cannot hunt in California for a year and he was placed on two years' probation.
Sara Suddes Sara Suddes covers Gilroy for South Valley Newspapers. You can email her or call (408) 847-7158.
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