The Elephant in the Courtroom


By Jonathan Lloyd
NBCLosAngeles.com


updated 1:45 a.m. CT, Wed., Jan. 27, 2010

Jerry Snapp had a hard time parting with the 200-pound, 4-foot tall elephant skull.

In 1997, he bought it from a rendering plant in Vernon, hauled it to his Riverside home, unleased beetles on the rotting flesh and -- after two years -- cleaned it and placed the skull on display. But when the recession struck, Snapp decided to put the skull for sale on Craigslist.

An LA Times report details how that decision led to a sentence of three years' probation and home detention.


The elephant came to Utica, NY, from Thailand in 1966. It was a gift to the children of Utica from the Utica Mutual Insurance Co.

She ended up in at 10-acre compound in Perris after she was purchased by an entertainment troupe called "Have Trunk Will Travel." She came to the LA Zoo in the early 1990s before she died in March 1997.

The elephant's skull appeared on Craiglist in November 2008. Asking price: $9,000.

According to the Times' report:


Because Tiffany was an Asian elephant and because Asian elephants were endangered, Snapp realized that selling her might be a violation of the Endangered Species Act. But he was uncertain: He hadn't imported Tiffany, and she came into the country before the act was passed in 1973.

After the asking price came down to $4,500 and Snapp threw in a rhino skull for $3,000, a man named Ed Newcomer arrived to have a look. After explaining the elephant's history, Snapp was asked a few questions about the Endangered Species Act.

It was then that the man identified himself as an agent with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Months later, the skull was part the evidence in a courtroom in downtown LA where Snapp was found guilty.

As for the elephant skull, it ended up in a warehouse in Torrance with other confiscated items.