Chance Airplane Encounter Leads Officers To Illegally Taxidermized Big Cats: Authorities

CALIFORNIA — A chance encounter on an airplane led California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers to discover that three people illegally possessed taxidermized mountain lions, a sea turtle skull and more, the agency reported Tuesday.

Byron Lee Fitzpatrick, 24, and Shannon Lee Price, 28, were convicted Jan. 30 in Butte County of violating Fish and Game Code and received fines of $1,865 and $1,015, respectively, as well as a one-year probation prohibiting hunting or proximity to hunters, authorities said. They were also fined $1,000 each for federal wildlife violations, according to the department.

Harry Vern Fitzpatrick was convicted Feb. 15 in Napa County of Fish and Game Code violations, fined $605 and sentenced to six months of probation, authorities said.

The investigation began in November 2023 when two of the department’s canine officers were on a flight from San Diego to Northern California and, dressed in plain clothes, they chatted with a couple seated behind them who were discussing hunting, according to the agency. The couple said they had a sea turtle skull in their luggage and that they had illegally taken a mountain lion, while a relative had multiple taxidermized mountain lions and more, according to authorities, who added that the couple showed the officers a video of the family member’s trophy room.

Once off the plane, the officers asked the couple if they could see the turtle skull and the pair complied, displaying the remains of the federally endangered species, according to the department.

The officers obtained search warrants for the couple’s home in Chico and their relative’s residence in Napa County, authorities said.

At the Chico home, they found a deer that had been taken illegally earlier the same day as well as mountain lion claws, a ringtail cat, a barn owl, a spike buck and several more illegally taken deer, according to the agency.

At the relative’s home, in addition to the two taxidermized mountain lions was one taxidermized wolverine, authorities said.

Mountain lions are specially protected in California while ringtail cats and wolverines are fully protected, according to the department.

All the illegal animals were seized, authorities said.

Anyone with information about a similar violation is asked to call authorities at 888-334-2258, according to the department.