California Hunter Sentenced to Prison for Smuggling Endangered Sheep Trophy from Pakistan

A Sacramento County big-game hunter has been sentenced to a bit of federal prison time and some pretty heavy fines for his role in an international smuggling scheme that involved shifty paperwork, deception and a rare and endangered species of wild sheep.

The Ladakh urial (a.k.a. Ovis vignei vignei) is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and protected under international agreements like CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Over the years, populations have dwindled due to habitat loss, poaching, and overhunting, with some estimates from the 2010s placing remaining numbers in the low hundreds in certain areas.

According to court documents and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, the smuggling scheme began way back in February of 2016 when Bruce connected with Pir Danish Ali, a 43-year-old Pakistani hunting outfitter and guide company CEO. Reports indicate that Bruce paid Ali upwards of $50,000 for a guided hunt targeting the Ladakh urial, followed by another $35,000 for a second trip in 2018. His goal was simple; find a target animal, kill it, and smuggle either the full carcass or the mounted head back into the United States.

In an effort to circumvent strict import laws, Bruce and Ali allegedly conspired to misrepresent the trophy as a non-endangered Punjab urial using a set of forged Pakistani wildlife permits and false declarations. According to reports, the pair’s plans reportedly included discussions of bribing officials to facilitate the deception, if and where necessary.

After having a successful hunt, the plot finally unraveled on March 29, 2018, when Bruce arrived at San Francisco International Airport carrying eight animal trophies in his personal luggage, including an outlawed Ladakh urial. Unfortunately for the smuggler, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted the items and made the call to include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have a peek at what he was packing. Well, the fake paperwork must have been half decent because the USFWS officers ended up releasing the urial after initially seizing the carcass upon their initial inspection.

Thinking he’d got away with a bout of international sheep smuggling, Bruce later had the trophy mounted and displayed in a trophy room at his home, prosecutors said. Despite federal investigators letting Bruce walk at SFO that day, unbeknownst to him, they continued their investigation that would soon drag on for another five-or-so years.

During this probe, agents verified the provided permits and uncovered evidence of forgery, bribery plans, and a broader pattern that included at least 25 hunters associated with Ali’s company that had used similar forged documents to import 97 hunting trophies into the U.S.  between 2013 and 2018. This expanded scrutiny also revealed details of Bruce's earlier 2016 hunt and smuggling attempt with Ali, tying everything into the conspiracy charges. In essence, the airport stop wasn't the end—it was the starting point that led to forensic checks, document analysis, and interviews that soon exposed the full scheme.

By March of 2023, a grand jury indicted both Bruce and Ali on charges including conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, making false statements, and smuggling goods into the U.S. Bruce faced additional individual counts of smuggling and Endangered Species Act violations, carrying potential penalties of up to 26 years in prison and $550,000 in fines if convicted on all charges.

At his sentencing on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced 51-year-old Jason Keith Bruce of Galt to six months behind bars, an $85,000 fine, and two years of supervised release. 

His partner in crime Ali, who remains in Pakistan, has not been extradited and faces similar allegations. Charges against him are pending, and much like Bruce was about five years ago, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.