WA: Brush Prairie business owner pleads guilty to transporting wildlife illegally taken across state

https://www.columbian.com/news/2025/jul/22/mayhem-services-brush-prairie-owner-plead-guilty-to-violating-lacey-act/

07/22/2025

A Brush Prairie man and his hunting company pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to violating a law that prohibits transporting wildlife that has been illegally taken across state and international borders.

Branden Trager and his company Mayhem Services LLC violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a hunting trip in January 2023 in Western Washington. They transported “taken” birds, which violates the Lacey Act, according to a Tuesday news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Lacey Act is the country’s oldest wildlife trafficking law that prohibits “transporting wildlife that had been taken illegally under federal, state, tribal or foreign law” across state or international borders, the news release states.

Trager also acknowledged he brought hunters into British Columbia, Canada, in 2022 for a guided hunting trip to target harlequin ducks. Under Canadian law, Trager couldn’t be a hunting guide for the trip. The harlequin duck is a trophy to hunters and part of a challenge to hunt 41 North American waterfowl species. Washington had closed the 2022-23 harlequin hunting season, but British Columbia had limited hunting still open, according to the news release.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act implemented a treaty with Canada to “ensure sustainable populations of migratory birds,” the news release states.

The recommended fines for Trager and his company are $100,000 and $75,000, respectively. As part of the plea deal, Trager and his company will also make public statements about the importance of hunting, guiding and wildlife regulations. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16, according to the news release.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, British Columbia Conservation Officer Service and the state Department of Fish & Wildlife worked the investigation.