National Park Service investigators hope to find these men to ask them about the theft of fossilized animal tracks taken from Death Valley National Park/NPS via remote cameras
A $1,000 reward has been posted by the National Park Service for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever stole fossilized tracks from Death Valley National Park.
The tracks, estimated to be 3-5 million years old, where laid down when mammals and birds scampered across a muddy lakeshore that since has turned to rock. Scientists visit the area regularly, photographing and recording the exact location of each footprint. During a recent visit, they discovered the fossils were missing and reported it to park rangers.
Backpackers in the area were photographed and may have witnessed the crime or have information about those responsible.
“It’s illegal to collect fossils, rocks, or anything else in National Parks,” said Death Valley Superintendent Mike Reynolds. “The purpose of national parks is to conserve the landscape and everything it contains for the next generation. I ask that visitors come and enjoy all there is to see, and to leave it unimpaired for others to enjoy.”
- Tips can be made via the following means:
- CALL the ISB Tip Line 888-653-0009
- TEXT to 202-379-4761
- ONLINE www.nps.gov/isb and click “Submit a Tip”
- EMAIL [email protected]
- MESSAGE via Facebook
- TWITTER: @InvestigativeServicesNPS or Twitter @SpecialAgentNPS
Comments
I don't care if it's a national park. It's still public land and people should be able to rock hound or prospect.
Luckily, Mike b, your personal opinion 'should' ain't the law.
Unfortunately, these guys in the photos look less like the Death Valley researcher types and more like Euro-Trash explorers of the Greatest Nation on Earth. My family and I stopped in D.V. way back in the late 1980s. We were surprised at how many people around us came from Europe and South America. My father-in-law spoke with a few in Dutch (I had no idea what was said). If I'm right and these are trash-trekkers or Burning Man Burnouts, I'd be very surprised to find that tourists would have the tools and time to cut the tracks from the sandstone. Now that the USPS has put out a notification, all reputable gemologists, fossil collectors and geologists will know and the stolen tracks will be essentially worthless. No one will purchase them. It would be like stealing the Mona Lisa. So one has the painting. It can never be sold and no one could show it off. My money is incidental collectors with a plan beforehand. The waiver is: I've been wrong before!
Maybe the FBI needs to pay Mike b a visit.
While I share your anger regarding this crime, please keep in mind that for now the pictures are merely of hikers that were in the area around the time the prints are thought to have been taken. Possible witnesses and not necessarily the perps themselves.
Agreed. By "public land" it means it belongs to all of us. I don't have the right to take anything and neither does the next rockhound, or Mike b.
What Mike said!
It would be helpful if the NPS had supplied larger photos of the backpackers. It looks like they are carrying something that doesn't look like backpacker gear, can't tell for sure in small photo.