California Poacher Busted After Hiding Two Abalone…in Her Pants

Well, you don’t see this every day: A woman in California was recently nabbed for two wildlife infractions after attempting to conceal illegally taken shellfish in her pants.

The incident took place at Van Damme State Park, along the Mendocino Coast, during the weekend of January 31-February 1, according to a Facebook post by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). A game warden watched a male and female duo taking purple sea urchins in the intertidal zone—as well as something suspicious. The warden “observed the female discreetly conceal what appeared to be an abalone down her pants, an unconventional storage method, to say the least.”

The CDFW officer waited to contact the pair until they returned to the parking lot. He asked the woman what she had concealed, and she soon “produced a small abalone from inside her pants.”

The laughably poor behavior didn’t end there, however. The CDFW remained suspicious that the woman was keeping additional abalone hidden in her pants. He “requested assistance from a female wildlife officer to conduct a search” and explained this to the woman, which prompted her to voluntarily remove yet another abalone from inside of her pants.

No other abalone were found, and the male subject was considered to be in compliance with wildlife regulations. The woman was cited for the illegal take of two abalone. In California, red abalone—a species of marine snail—was long considered a culinary delicacy, popularly harvested along the coast. However, low abalone populations prompted the CDFW to close the recreational harvest of the species in 2018. In December 2025, the closure was extended through at least 2036.

That hasn’t stopped bad actors from poaching abalone, however, though most poachers haven’t been hiding the invertebrates in their pants. In December, for instance, CDFW confiscated 15 poached red abalone from an individual at Ocean Cove on the Sonoma Coast. According to California law, abalone poaching can carry penalties of up to $40,000 and one year in jail.

Feature images both from CDFW. Left image of woman caught smuggling abalone in her pants, the right image is of 15 poached red abalone in the December instance.

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