"A Central Valley man was sentenced to six months in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle the body of an endangered wild sheep into San Francisco International Airport from Pakistan. Jason Keith Bruce of Galt, a town about 26 miles south of Sacramento, received his sentence on Tuesday. Galt pleaded guilty early last year to conspiring to smuggle the carcass of a Ladakh urial, an endangered wild sheep native to the high desert and alpine habitats of northern India's Ladakh region."
"Bruce was indicted in 2023 alongside Pir Danish Ali of Pakistan, the CEO of a hunting guide company that Bruce hired during big game hunting trips to Pakistan in 2017 and 2018. Beginning in 2016, the two men conspired to hunt a Ladakh urial and declare it as a different species to customs enforcement, going as far as forging documents from Pakistani authorities - a violation committed by at least 25 of Ali's clients between 2013 and 2018, prosecutors said."
"The Department of Justice noted that Bruce was aware of the fact that the Ladakh urial had a local population of only 180 when he shot the animal during a 2017 hunt that he paid Ali $50,000 for. According to court documents, Bruce then posted photos to Facebook of himself and a dead animal later identified as the Ladakh urial."
Jason Keith Bruce pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle the carcass of a Ladakh urial, an endangered wild sheep, into the United States. Bruce conspired with hunting guide CEO Pir Danish Ali beginning in 2016 to hunt the urial and misdeclare it to customs, using forged Pakistani documents. Bruce paid $50,000 for a 2017 hunt, knew the local population numbered about 180, and posted photos of the killed animal to Facebook. Bruce returned in 2018 carrying eight animal carcasses, including the illegal urial, and was stopped by U.S. Customs, which alerted U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
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