An Asheville man was sentenced to six months in federal prison for smuggling foxes into Virginia for paid hunts. The Roanoke Times has the story:
A man who smuggled foxes and coyotes into Virginia to be slaughtered in for-profit hunts was sentenced Thursday to serve six months in federal prison.
Howard Glen Blevins, 68, of Asheville, N.C., pleaded guilty in March to five counts of trafficking in wild animals. A statement from U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley said Blevins had bought animals for several years from trappers in different states and brought them to Virginia to sell to the owners of “fox pens.” Hunters would then pay to hunt in the pens.
He was caught after a yearlong investigation by Virginia game officials that included the undercover purchases of 54 red foxes and 47 coyotes from Blevins.
The animals were transported in the closed bed of a pickup truck, sometimes with two dozen or more animals crowded together. Often they were injured.
Dudley said in a statement that her office will “continue to protect the integrity of the indigenous wildlife within the Commonwealth of Virginia from the diseases that can be spread as a result of illegal animal trafficking.”
At Thursday’s hearing in federal court in Abingdon, Blevins was sentenced to the prison term and to three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $6,970 to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
According to court documents, Blevins is a retired stonemason who raised hunting dogs. More recently, he sold produce at farmers markets to pay fines from other convictions related to the transportation of wildlife.