New Hartford man charged with harboring endangered species

By: 
Michaela Kendall

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NEW HARTFORD – Last Thursday, 50-year-old Brian Anderson of New Hartford turned himself in to law enforcement after being charged with illegal possession of a protected non-game animal and illegal possession of an endangered species – both simple misdemeanors.
            The resulting charges stemmed from anonymous complaints about endangered species being held at Anderson’s residence on Packwaukee Street.
This led Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers to conduct a search warrant at his home last Wednesday, where they seized an endangered Massasauga Rattlesnake.
Like all rattlesnakes, the Massasauga Rattlesnake is venomous, and a bite from the snake could potentially be life threatening. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Massasauga Rattlesnakes have been listed as an endangered species due to habitat loss as floods and droughts affect their wetland habitat; they are also killed intentionally by people, or unintentionally due to prescribed fires, mowing or being struck by cars as they travel between wetlands.
 
Read more in the June 14 edition of the TRIBUNE.

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