Former Animal Planet host Donald Schultz guilty of illegally selling endangered animals
Wild Recon‘s Donald Schultz pled guilty to attempting to illegally sell two endangered Iranian desert monitor lizards without a permit.
The self-described animal expert was sentenced this week to two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay $9,000 to cover the reptiles’ veterinary care and other fines. By pleading guilty, he avoided up to one year in prison and steeper fines.
The former Animal Planet host was charged with violating the Endangered Species Act after selling the rare lizards to an undercover federal wildlife agent without a permit. The Los Angeles-based TV host then shipped the animals across the country to the agent in New York, who was promptly able get lizards medical care.
“What’s nice here is that there weren’t any casualties,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Bettinelli said at a previous hearing, Hollywood Patch reports. “It’s always a worry when dealing with endangered species. These lizards were flown across the country and survived.”
According to Hollywood Patch, Donald was secretly under investigation ever since 2006, when he was first suspected of smuggling illegal animals from his native South Africa to the United States. Investigators believed he used his website to find buyers and negotiate sales.
Wild Recon ran on Animals Planet for one season in 2010. The show involved Donald jumping out of a helicopter to explore remote areas and take samples of animal venom. (“This is not a stunt; this is my job,” he would say before jumping from the helicopter.) He also starred in the Animal Planet special “Venom in Vegas,” during which he lived in a clear box full of snakes for 10 days.
Before his conviction, Donald was regularly featured on Chelsea Lately, where he introduced Chelsea Handler to exotic animals.
