April 26, 2018
From Danielle Ferguson, ArgusLeader.com
A Howard man has been ordered to pay more than $13,000 in restitution for trapping migratory birds in steel traps in Minter County last year.
Armand Joseph Dornbusch, 63, was sentenced this week to pay $13,662.57 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica Duffy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He also lost his hunting privileges for three years.
Miner County authorities found 21 steel-jawed leg-hold metal traps on wooden fence posts in August 2017. Twelve birds were found, including four hawks and one great horned owl, and four were still alive.
Three of the live birds were raptors and underwent surgery at the Great Plains Zoo to amputate “severely damaged digits” on their feet, according to the release. They were released back into the wild.