A Solon, Iowa, man was sentenced to 60 days in prison and fined $10,000 by a federal court in Des Moines Tuesday (March 13) after pleading guilty to the felony importation of a brown hyaena, an endangered species, into the United States in August 1999. Dennis James Steinbrech, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Wolle to also serve three years of supervised probation upon his release from prison.
Steinbrech killed the brown hyaena during a safari to Zimbabwe, Africa, in 1998 while hunting over a bait site using night vision equipment. Knowing it was illegal to import the brown hyaena into the United States, he ordered an African taxidermist to skin out the skull and dispose of the hide, which would instantly be recognized as an endangered species upon entry into the U.S. The skull was smuggled into the United States falsely listed as a common spotted hyaena on the Fish and Wildlife import declaration form. Steinbach then picked up the skull at OHare Airport in Chicago in August 1999, and transported it to his home in rural Solon. Last May during the execution of a federal search warrant, an agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) seized the hyaena skull, a female leopard skin and skull, hunting rifle and other items from Steinbrechs home. The Services Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon positively identified the skull as that of an endangered brown hyaena. The Zimbabwe government estimates that only about 150 brown hyenas remain in Zimbabwe.
The brown hyaena (Hyanea brunnea) is protected by Zimbabwe law. Importing parts of an animal protected by U.S. or international law is a violation of the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife law. During the investigation, Steinbrech admitted to the Service agent that he knew importing the hyaena trophy into the United States was illegal. In addition, Steinbrech killed a nursing female leopard with a cub which is also illegal under Zimbabwe law. Steinbrech also shot and wounded a second leopard using a undersized caliber rifle, also illegal under Zimbabwe law. The wounded leopard was never recovered.
Judge Wolle ordered the fine money to be deposited in the Lacey Act Reward Account, a fund used by Service Agents to provide financial incentives for information leading to convictions of wildlife law violators. In addition to the fine and confinement, Steinbrech also forfeited the hyaena skull, hunting rifle, the female leopard skin and skull and photos of him posed with the animal carcasses. Because Steinbrech pleaded guilty to a felony he will no longer be allowed to possess firearms or vote in the United States. While on probation, Steinbrech is prohibited from hunting anywhere in the world.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operations 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It all oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
For more information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes Big Rivers Region, please visit our home pages at: http://midwest.fws.gov
