A California woman used “unconventional storage methods” to try to hide two endangered abalone she illegally caught. Unfortunately for her, a wildlife officer was watching.
The unidentified poacher and a man legally harvested purple sea urchins in the intertidal zone of Van Damme State Park, three hours north of San Francisco.
A wildlife officer was using binoculars to observe the couple from a distance, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported.
He witnessed the woman carefully hiding what appeared to be abalone in her pants, “an unconventional storage method, to say the least,” CDFW said.
As the couple walked to their vehicle, wildlife officers contacted them in the parking lot to check their licenses and inspect their catch. During the process, wildlife officials asked the female what she was hiding.
The woman then took out a small abalone from her pants.
Red abalone surrounded by purple sea urchins.
Wildlife officers then asked a female wildlife officer to assist with the search, suspecting she might be hiding more abalone.
Subsequently, the suspect took the initiative to take out the second abalone from his pants. No more abalone were found.
The woman was cited for illegally catching two abalone. The male was obedient and did not carry any abalone.
According to a 2022 article published by the University of California, Davis, all abalone species on the West Coast are listed as critically endangered or endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Meanwhile, the bag limit for purple sea urchins is 35, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This article originally appeared in To Win: Woman Caught Poaching Endangered Species, Hiding Them in Pants
