Ex-West Texas A&M professor sentenced for illegally importing wildlife

Kazmaier was an associate professor of biology at West-Texas A&M University before resigning in October 2022, according to court documents. He was sentenced on Jan. 10. 

Kazmaier pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, when he admitted to importing wildlife items from several countries without declaring them. He also admitted to purchasing and importing approximately 358 wildlife items with a total market value of $14,423 from eBay and other websites, according to a release.

According to the release, Kazmaier did not import any live animals but instead mostly purchased skulls, skeletons, and taxidermy mounts.

Court documents show that Kazmaier imported 14 protected species without permits, including the golden jackal; caracal; Eurasian otter; vervet monkey; red-billed leiothrix; Eurasian lynx; Chinese hwamei; crab-eating fox; masked palm civet; mountain weasels; king bird-of-paradise; African harrier hawk; greater naked-tailed armadillo; and Horsfield’s treeshrews.

A federal grand jury issued an indictment in January 2022, charging Kazmaier with smuggling goods into the US and two violations of the Endangered Species Act. After Kazmaier’s guilty plea, the court dismissed that indictment at the government’s request.

The Lacey Act requires importers to declare wildlife to customs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when it enters the country.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in Redmond, Washington, conducted the investigation as part of Operation Global Reach, which focused on the trafficking of wildlife from Indonesia to the United States, according to the release.