Texas biologist imported skulls, skeletons of otters and birds. Now, he’s headed to prison
A former associate professor of biology at West Texas A&M University was sentenced on Tuesday to six months in a federal prison for importing protected wildlife into the United States.
Dr. Richard Kazmaier, 55, also must serve three years of post-release supervision and pay a $5,000 fine.
Kazmaier, who had pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, 2022, to a Lacey Act felony for importing protected wildlife into the United States without declaring it or obtaining the required permits, was sentenced by a federal judge in Amarillo.
The Lacey Act and federal regulations require importers to declare wildlife to customs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when it enters the country.
A federal grand jury had indicted Kazmaier, who resigned from West Texas A&M in October, for smuggling goods into the United States and two violations of the Endangered Species Act.
Kazmaier pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging the Lacey Act, the nation’s oldest wildlife trafficking statute. The court dismissed the indictment at the government’s request.
Between March 2013 and February 2020, Kazmaier admitted he imported wildlife items from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay into Texas without declaring them.
Kazmaier purchased and imported approximately 358 wildlife items with a total market value of $14,423 from eBay and other online sales websites. He did not import any live animals and instead purchased mostly skulls, skeletons, and taxidermy mounts.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates trade in endangered or threatened species through permit requirements. The United States and 183 other countries are signatories to the CITES treaty.
Kazmaier acknowledged importing 14 protected species without obtaining permits, including the Eurasian otter, lynx, caracal, vervet monkey, greater naked-tailed armadillo, and king bird-of-paradise.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in Redmond, Washington, conducted the investigation as part of Operation Global Reach. The operation focused on the trafficking of wildlife from Indonesia to the United States.
