Dwight Babcock, 59, of Marvel, Colo., pleaded guilty Sept. 30 before U.S. Magistrate
David West to seven federal misdemeanor counts of unlawfully importing fish,
six counts of unlawfully transporting rainbow trout and grass carp from Colorado
to New Mexico; and one count of unlawfully importing rainbow trout from Colorado
to Utah. The guilty plea followed a joint investigation by the New Mexico Department
of Game and Fish, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.

According to court documents, Babcock illegally stocked trout and grass carp
in private ponds in the Farmington area without the required importation permits.
Eleven of those trout later tested positive for whirling disease, a very contagious
affliction that causes deformities and neurological damage in fish. Babcock,
owner and operator of Cannibal Canyon Ranches near Marvel, Colo., also admitted
to importing fish into the Moab, Utah, area, and unlawfully stocking trout from
his hatchery into public waters in Colorado on 125 occasions from 1997 to 2003.
His hatchery tested positive for whirling disease in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002.

“This is probably the largest case of its kind in New Mexico, and also the
most serious,” said Bruce Mazuranich, assistant chief of law enforcement for
the Department of Game and Fish. “This case illustrates the importance of our
laws requiring importation permits to bring any wildlife into the state. We
have to do everything we can to avoid bringing diseases or undesirable species
into New Mexico.”

Babcock's fines included $4,800 to the federal government, $15,000 restitution
to the State of New Mexico, and $10,000 to the Whirling Disease Research Program
at Colorado State University. He also is on probation for three years with the
U.S. Justice Department, and agreed to never again transport or sell wildlife
to New Mexico.