Wild Profits

California Fish and Game officials estimate that poaching -- the illegal taking of wildlife -- is a $100 million problem. Two of the most sought-after animals are red abalone, found off the coasts, and caviar-producing white sturgeon, which live in the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta.

California Connected follows a statewide Fish and Game operation that results in the arrrests of more than a dozen persons suspected of violating poaching rules. The program also goes into the desert with Warden Kyle Chang, one of the department's specialists on reptile poaching.