Does this look like a damn duck to you?
It's lonely out in space....
- Elton John, "Rocketman"
Look, if you can't tell the difference between a duck and a whooping crane, I am not at ALL comfortable with you been licensed to hunt with ANY sort of firearm. In fact, I'm not at all comfortable with you doing ANYTHING that doesn't require you to be heavily medicated.
HOUSTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A Texas man faces up to a year in prison on federal charges after a game warden found a dead whooping crane, one of the world's rarest birds, in his possession, officials said on Friday.
The crane apparently was shot Nov. 14 at a lake near Dallas while making the birds' annual winter migration from Canada to Texas, U.S. Attorney Jane Boyle in Dallas said in a statement.
There are only about 200 of the white, 4-foot-tall (1.20 metre) cranes left in the wild, experts say. They winter at a Texas reserve after a 2,500-mile (4,000 km) flight from Canada.
Donald Jones, 48, will be arraigned Dec. 12 on charges he violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Boyle said. If convicted, punishment could be up to a year in prison and a$100,000 fine.
News reports said a game warden caught Jones with the dead crane, which is protected as an endangered species, and three ducks which had been shot out of season.
Jones told the Dallas Morning News the crane was shot by accident because of "misidentification."
Once again I have apparently misunderestimated the depths of human stupidity. Every time I begin to think I have plumbed the depths and have finally scraped bottom, someone like Donald Jones brings me up short. How stupid do you have to be to mistake a whooping crane for a duck? Well, if you hooked Jones up to an IQ meter, I doubt the needle would budge.
Yep, he's a DUMASS....