Can claiming a hunting addiction keep you out of prison for wildlife crimes? A man from Sacramento, California, recently tested out the argument before a federal judge, after being convicted for smuggling an endangered Ladakh urial sheep home from a Pakistani hunting trip.
“When I hear the word addiction, it seems to refer to drugs, alcohol, or gambling,” defendant Jason Keith Bruce wrote in a letter to a U.S. District Judge, obtained by SF Gate. “But I have definitely felt a deep compulsion about hunting, so much that I see it clouds my decisions.”
The plea didn’t hold up, and Bruce was sentenced to six months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release and an $85,000 fine—all for one count of conspiracy, dating back to 2016.
That was the year when Bruce first began making plans with Pakistani hunting guide Pir Danish Ali (who appears to be the CEO of an outfit called Indus Safari) to forge documents in order to hunt the rare Ladakh urial sheep. Only about 180 of the sheep remain in Pakistan, and they are generally illegal to hunt. Some exceptions exist for traditional purposes, but a sport-hunt by a California man clearly isn’t one of them. Furthermore, it’s illegal to export the sheep from Pakistan, and also illegal under US law to import them.
Despite that, Bruce’s plans came to fruition a year later, when he shot the sheep on a 2017 hunting trip. According to a court press release, Bruce reportedly paid Ali $50,000 to hunt the animal. But it wasn’t until a return trip to Pakistan in 2018 that he attempted to bring the sheep home, along with seven other sheep—of other species—that he had legally shot over the course of several previous hunting trips to the country.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Bruce declared to Customs and Border Protection agents at the San Francisco International Airport that his Ladakh urial sheep was actually a Punjab urial sheep. However, the agents were suspicious of the sheer number of animals Bruce was importing at one time.
By that point, Bruce knew he was in hot water. In Facebook messages obtained by the court between Bruce and Ali, the outfitter reportedly said, “We should have thought of that,” and suggested that Ali tell the agents he shot all the animals out of a big herd.
Ali also tossed around the idea of pretending to call the US Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of the regional Pakistani wildlife department, and even counterfeiting a Ladakh urial sheep carcass to make it appear that the animal never left Pakistan. Finally, Bruce told Ali to delete all the emails and messages the two had sent each other, but the damage had already been done.
Bruce’s sentence was handed down in early February, despite his hunting addiction plea. Still, the sentence was relatively lineament compared to what it could’ve been. Had the judge brought down the full weight of the law, Bruce could have faced five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Additionally, Pir is named as a co-defendant in the case, but is yet to face trial, and would likely have to be extradited from Pakistan for that to happen.
Beyond Bruce, the case also brought to light a slew of other, similar crimes committed by Pir’s outfitting business. According to the court, 25 hunters forged documents to import 97 trophies into the United States between 2013 and 2018, with the help of Pir. It’s unclear if US wildlife authorities will pursue legal action against those hunters. But if they do, the hunters might need to hone up on their excuses. “Hunting addiction” is apparently not a valid one.
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