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October 17, 2002
FORT MYERS -- The owner of a DeSoto County fish hatchery has been charged with killing 4,000 endangered or protected birds and an alligator, police said.
Fish and wildlife officials arrested Vicky Davidson, 40, of Arcadia on Tuesday after a six-monthinvestigation.
Davidson faces at least six violations of Florida law and the federal migratory bird act, said Gary Morse, a Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman. The charges range from a third-degree felony to a second-degree misdemeanor.
Wildlife officials said Davidson purchased 25,000 shotgun shells and told her employees to shoot at anything that posed a threat to her fish.
Wood storks, black-neck stilts, cattle egrets, eastern meadowlarks, herons and at least one alligator were killed over 11 months, Morse said.