Did you know that the very first federal law enforcement officer to ever conduct undercover work was a US Fish and Wildlife Service officer? It makes sense because the US Fish and Wildlife Service is among the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the United States. Join Ed and his guest Mark Madison, historian for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to hear about the earliest Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement pioneers.

Forty years after US Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Marie Palladini took on alligator skin traffickers, Wildlife Officer Jeff Babauta of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was back at it trying to tackle illegal shenanigans associated with the American alligator. In his case, though, Jeff is onto widespread laundering of wild caught alligator eggs and hatchlings, an illegal business that can rack up hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars in profits for traffickers. The practice seriously hampers alligator conservation and can have dramatic impacts on alligator nesting success from year to year.

Lt. George Wilson spent 36 years working as a law enforcement officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and recently retired as the lieutenant overseeing the FWC's statewide investigations unit. Since his retirement, George has been consulting with a private organization known as Exulans (www.exulans.net) that provides training and investigative support to emerging countries through a contract with WildAid. George and the Exulans team recently worked to help the nation of Bahamas crack down on illegal charter fishing in Bahamian waters by US based charter boat captains. George is a top-notch investigator who thinks out of the box and now he's sharing that knowledge around the world. Watch for more episodes of Nature's Secret Service with George as he and Ed had many successful joint projects during their careers.

Meet Captain Dan Brinson, previously with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police. Dan was an important influence on Ed, as well as a role model and mentor. Sit in on Ed's wide-ranging conversation with Dan about everything from officer discretion to the role wildlife officers can sometimes play in protecting the public from unseen safety threats. In Ed's opinion, Dan is one of the most intelligent and most ethical wildlife law enforcements ever to wear a badge and carry a gun. Tune in and find out why. By the end of the episode, we bet you'll agree.

Join Ed for his conversation with Bryan Christy as they talk about the world of the reptile trade and reptile trafficking. Christy is the author of The Lizard King, a book that chronicles the origins and history of a reptile supply company known as Strictly Reptiles and its controversial owners Ray and Mike Van Nostrand. Bryan and Ed will talk about the late Charles "Chip" Bepler, a US Fish and Wildlife Service special agent who spent years pursuing and making a case against Strictly and Mike Van Nostrand. The story will open your eyes to the seedy underbelly of the world of "pet" reptiles and even surprise you as it exposes the intense rivalry between criminal and lawman, all-the-while telling the true story of the personal lives and emotions driving the two adversaries hell bent on defeating each other.

Birds get tangled up in the world of wildlife crime and wildlife trafficking all the time. Eagles and hawks are killed and persecuted for their parts and because they are predators. Parrots are smuggled north from Latin America. Songbirds are smuggled around the world from Southeast Asia, risking us all to exposure of deadly strains of bird flu. Even migratory birds native to the US fall victim to the illegal exotic pet trade. Join Ed as he talks to former US Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Walter Duran about Operation Ornery Birds -- a long-term undercover operation designed to bring down the people trapping and trafficking native migratory birds protected by federal law. Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it's a felony to sell migratory birds.

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Lieutenant Kathy Ponting is a legend among game wardens of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (formerly the California Department of Fish and Game). A second-generation warden, Kathy rose to the rank of lieutenant and oversaw the elite Special Operations Unit. Unlike uniformed wardens assigned to patrol work, the wardens in SOU were plain clothes investigators and worked as a cohesive unit on long-term or highly complex investigations usually involving illegal commercialization of wildlife or egregious take of wildlife. Wardens in SOU were known to work insanely long and unpredictable hours and had a reputation for being extremely tenacious and dedicated to the mission. Positions in SOU were not easy to come by and not every warden was a good fit. Join Ed for his conversation with Kathy about her team's effort to save the California abalone population from decimation.

Plant crimes resurface this week but, this time, in the form of American ginseng! A native plant found throughout the Appalachian Mountains, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and under heavy pressure from unscrupulous commercial collectors. Join Ed and former special agent Tom Chisdock as they discuss the threats to the species, the illegal trade, and Tom's great work exposing a ginseng trafficker who also sold opioids straight from the same store that served tourists coming and going from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.