Man Sent to Prison for Smuggling Animal Parts

A Chinese national was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison for smuggling a complete Siberian tiger skeleton and parts of other endangered animals into the United States.

Chang Hao An, 39, a resident of Ji Ling Province in northeastern China, was intercepted at Los Angeles International Airport in September with $800,000 in tiger bones, bear gall bladders and rhinoceros horn pills, Assistant U.S. Atty. Nathan Hochman said.

“Vis-a-vis the volume and type of products he had, it’s one of the most significant seizures of endangered animal products in U.S. history,” Hochman said.

Powdered tiger bone and rhino tusk are considered aphrodisiacs in China, and gall bladders are folk remedies believed to calm upset stomachs and improve vision, Hochman said.

The prosecutor said Chang was stopped by federal customs agents at the airport and he showed them suitcases containing more than 31 pounds of tiger bones. Chang also carried a photograph showing the tiger’s skeleton next to its skin, a way of proving that the bones were from a tiger, thus enhancing their market value, Hochman said.

Chang said he purchased the skeleton from Russian hunters who had killed it. He pleaded guilty in January to one count of smuggling endangered animal parts, Hochman said.