Endangered giant salamanders priced at $450 on Facebook smuggled into Arkansas, feds say
An Arkansas man bought endangered wildlife from a seller on Facebook — including Chinese giant salamanders for $450 each — and smuggled the creatures into the U.S., officials say.
Jackson Roe, 27, of Conway entered his guilty plea of “importing and possessing illegally taken wildlife” Wednesday, Dec. 15 in the Eastern District of Arkansas, according to a news release.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was first tipped off in August 2015 when authorities learned a reptile hobbyist in China was selling and smuggling animals into the U.S., according to the news release. Agents went undercover and learned the man was shipping exotic, endangered wildlife to several buyers, including Roe, officials said.
“Wildlife inspectors intercepted a package addressed to Roe that contained two live Chinese giant salamanders — an endangered species, in plastic jars, with wet moss,” officials say. “There were no holes in the box for air and no documents in the package.”
The defense attorneys representing Roe did not immediately respond to a statement request from McClatchy News.
In Roe’s signed plea agreement, he agreed that Fish and Wildlife Service agents executed a search warrant at his parents’ home in August 2017, where they found and seized two live turtles, a frozen turtle and shipping materials. They then went to Roe’s home for an interview.
During the interview, Roe invited the agents inside his home and admitted to possessing several endangered species smuggled into the U.S., according to court records. He said he bought the animals through Facebook from a dealer in China, and they were shipped to Arkansas in containers labeled as “plastic samples.”
In total, Roe told officials he received about seven packages of animals he illegally bought, including six Chinese giant salamanders, one Vietnamese leaf turtle, one Indian roofed turtle, and one Chinese big-headed turtle, the plea agreement says. The animals were then stored at his and his parents’ home.
Officials say Roe paid $450 for each Chinese giant salamander and planned to resell the turtles.
Agents then seized three live salamanders, a live Chinese big-headed turtle and shipping materials from his home, according to court records. And, after Roe told agents about other reptiles at his parents’ house, they seized two crocodiles and an alligator, officials said.
Roe admitted his actions were wrong, officials say, and knew Chinese giant salamanders are expected to go extinct.
About two years later, in October 2019, authorities learned Roe once again had Chinese giant salamanders illegally smuggled into the U.S., records show. Agents conducted another search warrant a few weeks later, where they found two live salamanders, four dead salamanders and other animals.
Roe admitted he had illegally purchased another six Chinese giant salamanders from China between 2017 and 2019., officials said.
Roe’s sentencing will be decided by a judge at a later date, according to the news release. He faces up to five years in prison, a fine up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
Chinese giant salamanders
Described as a “living fossil” by the San Diego Zoo, Chinese giant salamanders once lived among the dinosaurs. It is the largest amphibian across the globe, wildlife experts say, weighing about 110 pounds and growing as long as 3 to 5 feet.
“Despite its ‘giant’ status, this salamander is now critically endangered due to over-harvesting for human consumption, as well as habitat loss and water pollution,” the zoo says. “Revered for thousands of years, and later feared and avoided — which wasn’t too difficult, given their penchant for fast-running mountain streams — its luck ran out in the 1970s when a market grew for ‘exotic’ giant salamander meat, accompanied by an uptick for use in traditional remedies. This led to thousands of Chinese giant salamander farms cropping up around the country — and some salamanders sell for more than $1,500 each!”
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