You may be used to seeing Texas Parks and Wildlife officers patrolling the outdoors, but they are also busy surfing sites like Craigslist and Facebook Buy Sell Trade, looking for black market exotic or endangered animal sales.

They have confiscated pounds of illegal deer meat, sea turtle shells, hawk talons, and even bald eagle feathers in the Lubbock area.  

“You name it, people try to sell a lot of strange things online,” Lubbock County Game Warden Aaron Sims said. “Other species you may not be able to legally hunt are still very important to the environment, especially the critically endangered ones like sea turtles. So, when you put a black market value on that, that’s not a good situation. You are putting more undue pressure on that species, more then it already has.”

In addition to patrolling these sites, Texas Parks and Wildlife has a Crime-Stoppers Program called “Operation Game Thief.” They offer rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction for a wildlife crime. In some of the larger Texas cities, these tips have helped game wardens find things like tiger pelts and ivory elephant tusks. 

Some game wardens will even go undercover and set up a buy to bust these sellers. Sims said it is a serious offense, and offenders could end up with hundreds of dollars in fines. 

Sims added, you need a certain permit to possess exotic animals, and then another to sell them. So, even for a post that might seem innocent, like selling a red-eared slider turtle in a little terrarium, you’d need a permit. 

“Well, where did they get these turtles from?” Sims asked. “You don’t want species coming in from outside this country. These animals could have diseases. You want to know where they came from.” 

Sims said people often just don’t know the laws and rules, but other times, these sales are a clue something worse is going on. 

“It could be a case where it is a drug trafficking front. They are selling turtles, but they may be selling other products as well,” Sims said, referring to firearm or narcotic sales. 

Taxidermists also work closely with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to ensure any animals that come thorough their doors were killed legally.

“Every once in a while, we will get the call out of the blue,” Matt Slape with The Wildlife Art Studio said. “Something strange, like someone has hit a hawk and wants to pick it up off the side of the road and wants to bring it to us. That’s a big ‘no no.'” 

They work with species from all over the world, but Slape said the clients have to have the proper forms, permits and paperwork. In fact, during the nearly nine-month-long process, they hang the paper work next to each piece of work, in case Game Wardens come to check things out or have any questions. 

“If somebody comes in and is reluctant to fill this out, you’ll know, something is out of the ordinary,” Slape said.  

He added, most of their clients are people looking for a beautiful educational piece or for a memory from a special hunt, and they know the rules.  

“If I’ve done my job right you can see it on their face,” Slape said. “All those memories flooding back.” 

He said the department works hard to protect the public and these species, keeping them at healthy levels. Illegal sales can undo that work in just a few clicks. 

“These animals are the property of the people of Texas. These are their sea turtles that are being traded, sold or killed,” Sims said. “It’s very important for the species survival. Education is No. 1, but if we have to go to enforcement, we will do that, too.”

For more information on Operation Game Thief, CLICK HERE. 

For a full list of what animals are on Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Black List of animals banned for possession or sale, CLICK HERE. 

For more information on which animals are on the White List, which you can collect for commercial purposes with the right permits, CLICK HERE.