Portland Aquarium Co-founder Sent to Prison for Illegal HarvestingKEY WEST, Fla. — The former president of an Idaho aquarium convicted in the illegal shipping of protected sharks and rays from Florida has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison.
A federal judge in Key West on Monday imposed the sentence on 40-year-old Ammon Covino, former president of the Idaho Aquarium in Boise and co-founder of Portland Aquarium in Oregon. Covino is also barred during two years of probation from working in a wildlife exhibit.
Court documents show Covino admitted involvement in illegally obtaining and shipping three spotted eagle rays and two lemon sharks for the Idaho Aquarium.
Intercepted communications showed Covino told Florida shippers to ignore the law.
The aquarium itself also pleaded guilty, agreeing to pay a $10,000 fine and donate $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Federation.
Court documents also accused Covino of trying to illegally acquire lemon sharks for the Portland facility. However, co-owner and Ammon's brother Vince Covino said that there are no lemon sharks or spotted rays at the Portland Aquarium.
"All animals at Portland Aquarium have been legally acquired and properly permitted," Vince Covino said in a statement earlier this year. "Portland Aquarium has demonstrated its patience in waiting for proper permits as evidenced by empty otter and puffin exhibits. Both species are still in the proper permitting process and will not arrive on site a day sooner than they are legally approved."
http://www.oregonlive.com/milwaukie/index.ssf/2013/12/florida_prosecutors_seek_priso.html
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