The Birdman of Leavenworth

Soon after Jeffrey Peters heard two years ago that some hunters had trapped a rare Merlin falcon, he went to Utah to pick it up. Peters, a Columbia, Mo., high school biology teacher and Cub Scout leader, is an internationally respected researcher whose specialty is birds of prey. But he did not obtain a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to transport the rare bird over state lines. As a result, he was snared in an undercover sting operation aimed at poachers who illegally supply falconers in the Middle East, where the ancient sport of hunting with trained raptors is still popular and a perfect live bird can sell for thousands of dollars.

Peters arrived at the federal prison camp in Leavenworth, Kans., last Monday to begin serving an 18-month sentence. Had he killed a falcon, rather than pursued his studies on how best to preserve the birds, he would have faced lesser penalties. Peters, who is filing for a reduced sentence, says he will study the work of other raptor experts while confined in Leavenworth, which happens to be where the famous Birdman of Alcatraz, Robert Stroud, first began assembling his aviary in 1920 and wrote his digest on the diseases of birds.