[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 76 (Thursday, June 16, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               FEDERAL AGENTS ARREST KANGAROO RAT KILLER

  (Mr. TRAFICANT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, a California farmer had a visit. Federal 
agents swooped down on him and his family. They told his family he is 
nothing more than a common criminal. They arrested him. He faces a year 
and a half in jail, $300,000 in fines. They confiscated his $50,000 
tractor. They told him he could not do any more farming on his own land 
because he was guilty, guilty of killing a kangaroo rat covered under 
the Endangered Species Act.
  Unbelievable, my colleagues. The Endangered Species Act is designed 
to protect those in danger. But was it designed to ruin the lives of 
innocent persons who accidentally kill a kangaroo rat?
  I have heard of things going to the dogs. My colleagues, this is 
taking it a dimension further. I think it is time for Congress to 
balance some of this legislation, including environmental concerns, 
with some common sense because it is going beyond the dogs now.

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