Men who vandalized Death Valley National Park charged with felonies for killing endangered species - Polidicks

[QUOTE]The three men who were caught on video drunkenly vandalizing Death Valley National Park (possibly leading to the death of a rare fish) have been identified and charged. On Thursday afternoon, the Nye County Sheriff's Office announced that Steven Schwinkendorf, Edgar Reyes and Trenton Sargent all had been hit with felony charges including killing of an endangered species, destruction of habitat, trespassing, and destruction of property. On the evening of April 30, all three men broke into the 40-acre Devils Hole Unit of Death Valley National Park and shot at locks and the unit's security system. The men left behind beer cans and vomit. [B]One of them climbed down the rocks into the Devils Hole pool—the only home of the rare Devils Hole pupfish—and went skinny-dipping, leaving behind his "dirty" boxer shorts and possibly a dead pupfish in his wake.[/B] "The intrusion is believed to have resulted in the death of at least one endangered Devils Hole Pupfish, and fisheries biologists are trying to ascertain the extended damage that may have been done to food sources and egg sites which could lead to more loss of a species who's numbers[B] are now below the last count of 115 in existence[/B]," said the Nye County Sheriff's Office in a press release. "The killing of an endangered species is a felony crime." "We're looking forward to seeing these three men brought to justice," said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Not only did they act stupid but they destroyed some of the last remaining habitat for one of the rarest fish in the United States." The Center for Biological Diversity offered $10,000 towards the arrest of the vandals, raising the reward in the case to a total of $15,000.[/QUOTE] [url]http://laist.com/2016/05/13/death_valley_idiots_charged.php[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzEORQtO-xo[/media]

why the hell did they think this was a good idea?

[QUOTE=Rainboo;50319501]why the hell did they think this was a good idea?[/QUOTE] because intoxicated people tend to make mind bogglingly bad decisions at a much higher rate than sober people

[QUOTE=aznz888;50319515]because intoxicated people tend to make mind bogglingly bad decisions at a much higher rate than sober people[/QUOTE] i can't exactly fathom why one would get drunk in a place named [I]death valley[/I], just because we have AC and cars, doesn't mean its not a dangerous place

Leave the fish alone they did nothing wrong. [t]http://nas.er.usgs.gov/XIMAGESERVERX/2005/20051103162650.jpg[/t] It's pretty cute.

What the fuck, why would you hurt the pupfish??? Dude, not only is it critically endangered, but research conducted on it has noted that it may have a solution for cancer. No, I'm not making a silly joke, research was conducted by AZ/Cali game and fish, which found that certain cells from these fish actually kill cancer cells.

Fucking retards, i hope they spend a long time in jail.

[QUOTE=Pascall;50319529]Leave the fish alone they did nothing wrong. [t]http://nas.er.usgs.gov/XIMAGESERVERX/2005/20051103162650.jpg[/t] It's pretty cute.[/QUOTE] That's just a normal desert pupfish. This is the Death Valley Pupfish: [t]https://cindymcintyre.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/desert-pupfish-spawning-salt-creek-death-valley-np-ca-13-copy.jpg[/t]

This sounds like the plot for a crazy college film.

That's cute too. Protect the fish.

Thanks for taking a drunken swim in literally the only place in the universe this fish lives, dirtbags. Now we have no moral high ground when the aliens come back to harvest the top two miles of the Earth's crust after getting stuck in traffic for a billion years.

If you don't want to be grossed out, don't read this post: You absolutely do not want to jump in any of the water at Death Valley or any of the Nevadan mountain ranges. It's not suitable for humans for more reasons than nature. On the many trips I've gone there, I've been warned that the water is constantly pissed or shat into, and littered in. There's a lot of small pits of water that you can peer into and see a muddy yellow-green vat of nastiness. I wouldn't expect anyone to come out of those pits particularly happy or healthy.

[QUOTE=wauterboi;50320424]If you don't want to be grossed out, don't read this post: You absolutely do not want to jump in any of the water at Death Valley or any of the Nevadan mountain ranges. It's not suitable for humans for more reasons than nature. On the many trips I've gone there, I've been warned that the water is constantly pissed or shat into, and littered in. There's a lot of small pits of water that you can peer into and see a muddy yellow-green vat of nastiness. I wouldn't expect anyone to come out of those pits particularly happy or healthy.[/QUOTE] So upsetting to see people do this, especially at a national park. Shit like that is harmful for the species who live there but it happens anyways.

[QUOTE=Rocko's;50320444]So upsetting to see people do this, especially at a national park. Shit like that is harmful for the species who live there but it happens anyways.[/QUOTE] My middle school history teacher went to the Grand Canyon at some point and asked why there were no railings, to which the employed Native Americans at the time said, "We really don't care if the white people fall to their deaths. We're not going to ruin the site even more than they already have with guard rails." I've been to the Grand Canyon, and I've seen multiple places with tons of litter. There's a lot of areas where they keep that shit to a minimum and that place is swarming with staff, which takes it down a notch, but if you look hard enough you can find a pile of trash somewhere.

A felon for killing a little fish? That's overkill.

They were shooting locks off of doors as well. The hell? [QUOTE=Bat-shit;50321724]A felon for killing a little fish? That's overkill.[/QUOTE] They tresspassed and shot the locks off of several doors to kill endangered fish, of course that's a felony.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;50321724]A felon for killing a little fish? That's overkill.[/QUOTE] Considering there are only 115 of those specific fish in the world, it's pretty bad (but not as bad as my comparison that i juist snipped)

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;50321724]A felon for killing a little fish? That's overkill.[/QUOTE] A felon for killing the last remnants of a species of fish.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;50321724]A felon for killing a little fish? That's overkill.[/QUOTE] Or you know illegally breaking and entering on [B]federal property[/B] and then vandalizing said [B]federal property[/B] which led to the death of a critically endangered species protected on [B]federal property[/B]. But hey it's a little fish guys, no big deal.

Read the comments before reading the thread, title sounded like someone got a felon for skinny dipping and killing a fish. The guy got a felon for destruction of property + trespassing. Sensationalist Headlines is a wonderful place.

[QUOTE=AltF4 All Day;50321809]Or you know illegally breaking and entering on [B]federal property[/B] and then vandalizing said [B]federal property[/B] which led to the death of a critically endangered species protected on [B]federal property[/B]. But hey it's a little fish guys, no big deal.[/QUOTE] *tips a marshal's hat* But yeah, not much room defending their actions tbh. Breaking locks, trespassing. On federal property, if I may also add. However, a hundred fish stuck in a pool in the middle of [I]a desert[/I] seems as good as gone to me.

Fish can come back from the brink since they can breed fairly quickly. It's not an impossible comeback and it's certainly still worth the effort to preserve a species like that.

[QUOTE=Pascall;50325748]Fish can come back from the brink since they can breed fairly quickly. It's not an impossible comeback and it's certainly still worth the effort to preserve a species like that.[/QUOTE] Exactly, I don't know why they don't get public aquariums and universities with labs involved, as long as they can replicate the water conditions for these little cute fishies, then I'm sure they could easily breed enough to create a population elsewhere. Hell, just get some fish farms involved in it so they can be put into the aquarium trade. IIRC the pupfish is related to killifish which are already extremely popular. Anyway hopefully these idiots will be forced to do some sort of community service at a zoo or something after being fined and locked up.

[QUOTE=GamerChick;50327375]Exactly, I don't know why they don't get public aquariums and universities with labs involved, as long as they can replicate the water conditions for these little cute fishies, then I'm sure they could easily breed enough to create a population elsewhere. Hell, just get some fish farms involved in it so they can be put into the aquarium trade. IIRC the pupfish is related to killifish which are already extremely popular. Anyway hopefully these idiots will be forced to do some sort of community service at a zoo or something after being fined and locked up.[/QUOTE] They probably do already, but these are the last wild fish

Schwinkendorf