Illegal wildlife trafficking results in more than a year in prison for Kentucky man
A Kentucky man has been sentenced to a year and three months in federal prison for violating a federal law aimed at protecting wildlife.
Christopher Cool, 59, of Jackson County, bought Eastern Box Turtles for $10 each from people who caught them in the woods, then sold them to people in other states for $100 to $200 apiece, according to court records.
With their colorful markings, the turtles are valued as pets. China and Taiwan are particular destinations for turtles trafficked from the U.S., according to Jordan Gray, a biologist with the South Carolina-based Turtle Survival Alliance who spoke with the Herald-Leader about the issue last year.
Cool was not smuggling turtles directly to Asia, but it’s likely the turtles he shipped to buyers in other states ended up overseas, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily K. Greenfield said in a sentencing memorandum.
The commercialization and sale of the turtles is illegal. A person is allowed to keep no more than five of the turtles without a permit, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV.
The investigation showed Cool sold 669 turtles between July 2019 and July 2020 that had been taken from the wild in Kentucky, according to a court record.
When state and federal wildlife authorities went to his house in July 2020 to investigate a complaint, Cool had 246 of the turtles inside the house.
Cool’s attorney, Travis A. Rossman, said Cool knew there were risks associated with shipping the animals, but he did not intend to harm them. When he understood the harm he had caused, he was “horrified,” Rossman said in a sentencing memorandum.
Investigators found 60 dead turtles at the home of a friend of Cool’s, who said they belonged to Cool.
Eastern Box Turtles are not listed as an endangered species nationally, but they are in decline and are increasingly a species of concern for conservationists, said Gray, with the Turtle Survival Alliance.
Taking turtles from the wild can hurt particular populations, Gray said.
Greenfield, the prosecutor, said that turtles have a slow rate of maturity. The fact that Cool was taking such a large number of turtles from the wild “could have resulted in a population crash for the box turtles in this area if he had not been stopped,” Greenfield said.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier sentenced Cool last week. Cool had been in custody since last September and the sentence credits that time.
In lieu of a fine, the judge required Cool to perform 40 hours of community service for each of the two years he will be on supervised release after prison.
Officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources investigated the case.
