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GrshamH":mld2r2tr said:Under false ID by USF&WS anyone would be pissed to be fined and have a coral taken. In fact I have seen what they give back, usually half dead if not dead. I spent nearly 10 years dealing with them and just how bad they can be. Most people I deal with are the "good guys" Matt and you know this. Of course some jerk smuggler or unconcerned unethical person would be mad even if they had stuff rightfully confiscated, but the people I speak of work hand and hand with USF&WS. In fact two of them have helped on numerous cases and even have housed confiscated coral for USF&WS.
I'm sorry but just how much experience do you have with them? Have you sat thru countless hours of dumb ass questions from them? Have you watched them slice boxes completely open, styro and all, or roll boxes down the hall? Have you witnessed the lack of unification of how the process is applied, or not, to various people? One guy gets fined for 1 CITES violation while a guy with 300 violations get a far less fine? If it's truly $1K per infraction, why would the 300 one not get $300K violation? Why does a certain local wholesale business stay in business when even the agents label him a habitual smuggler?
I can't answer most of your questions, since I'm not a USF&W inspector nor do I represent the USF&W.
What I said was that the inspectors I have dealt with (Rickey Tome plus 3 others, once each) have been skilled at IDing corals as well as other animals and plants. I can't really speak for how USF&W inspectors I've never met deal with people I don't know, or why the USF&W applies rules the way it does.