In 2002, I caught a turkey in a fox trap and, when I tended it, it was dead. There was nothing I could do about it, so rather than let it go to waste I cleaned it and, along with some neighbors, we deep fried it and ate it.

When asked by the Warden Service about some turkey feathers I possessed, I readily told them what happened. I was taken to court, fined $500 and had my license suspended for one year.

Now, according to Maj. Glen Sanborne of the Warden Service, it is warden policy not to investigate dead animals found in the woods.

This could have been a gray wolf illegally shot or trapped for all the Warden Service knew.

What the major did with his response was political damage control. No more, no less.

This agency did not have time or resources to investigate this situation, but did have time to watch a fisherman who fell asleep while fishing in Auburn and charge him with failure to tend his lines. How much time and resources have been spent on this ridiculous case? How many more warden man hours will be expended before this case is concluded by a trial jury?

Please major, put a dollar-and-cents value on this fiasco. Tell the public how much this cost them before you tell the public that the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife cannot afford to answer dead-animal complaints.

Ron Nickerson, Monson