A New York City man will spend a year in federal prison after sending hundreds of protected turtles to China.
According to the New York Daily News, Chu Sen Guan, 33, and his brother Chu Wei Guan, 35, were charged in 2019 with illegal importation of wildlife conspiracy and smuggling charges. They both pleaded guilty in September 2021.
The protected species included the Eastern box turtle and the Florida box turtle, which are highly sought after as pets in China.
Wei Guan was earlier sentenced to a year and a day, which means he could have his punishment reduced with good behaviour. Sen Guan received the harsher sentence and won’t be eligible for early release.
According to court filings, the brothers shipped more than 600 turtles to China via Hong Kong in 2017 and 2018. The manner in which they were packaged was horrific.
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“The defendants forced the turtles’ heads and limbs instead their shells and then shoved these turtles into a sock, which they knotted shut,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Siegel wrote in a February sentencing memo for the brothers.
“The socks were intended to absorb urine and feces so the package would not leak during transport. The socks also prevented the shells from chipping (which would damage the turtles’ value) or making noise if they were jostled together, which could alert authorities.”
The boxes had no holes for the turtles to breathe, and no food or water during their five- to six-day trip.
“Unsurprisingly, many turtles did not survive this journey,” Siegel wrote.
The brothers, who grew up in China but are U.S. citizens, earned between $600 and $1,000 for each box shipped as part of a larger operation.
Prosecutors said the turtles could be bought for as little as $125 in the U.S. But in China, they would sell for $2,000. The total value of the pets was $1 million.
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