The Humane Investigator Helps The Wildlife Trafficker

A woman reported to me that her neighbor, who I will call Beth, collected, hoarded, bought and sold wildlife. The neighbor said that Beth never allowed her inside of the house, but she witnessed monkeys, foxes, civets, small wild cats(not domestic) and other wildlife go in and out of the house. I was in the process of obtaining a search warrant, and made sure that Beth was unaware of my presence. Then the neighbor told me that a humane investigator had showed up at Beth's house. As was customary for many humane investigators,who I experienced rarely exercise discretion or common sense, all caution was thrown to the wind and the humane investigator simply showed up at Beth's door asking to go inside. Now of course Beth said no. Beth said, "You do not have a search warrant, and so I do not have to let you in my house." The humane investigator stood outside the front door for a few minutes, impotent and helpless as usual. Then the humane investigator left, pulling away in a vehicle that was as indiscreet as the humane investigator. After Beth peered out the window and saw that the humane investigator had left, Beth called her wildlife trafficking contact in the state of Texas. "Have someone come quickly", Beth proclaimed. "I have been discovered." In the early morning hours of the following day, a truck pulled up in the back of Beth's house. All the wildlife inside of the house was removed, placed inside the truck, which then drove away. The next day the neighbor called me and said that the humane investigator had tipped off Beth, and now all the animals were gone. "It is over", the neighbor said sadly. "There is nothing that we can do to help those animals. I do not know why that humane investigator had to show up, or who told the humane investigator to go to Beth's house." Later that day I paid Beth a visit. I knocked on her door. It no longer mattered if I revealed my presence, because there were no animals left to rescue, no warrant to obtain. Beth let me inside. She told me that all the animals were gone. She said that after the humane investigator showed up, she called her contact and had all the animals removed. Beth showed me around her house. There were many empty, filthy cages. "There is nothing you can do to me, Sgt.," Beth declared. "And you cannot get my animals. That humane investigator helped me."