One of South Africa’s largest big- game outfitters, who arranged hunts for clients from the Rocky Mountain region, poached leopards in South Africa and then smuggled the hides and skulls to a longtime Denver taxidermist for preparation, federal authorities said.
The outfitter, Jan Greonewald Swart, 58, was accused of taking the hides and skulls from the animals killed in South Africa and then smuggling them into neighboring Zimbabwe.
From Zimbabwe, the hides and skulls were shipped to Edward Borner for preparation at Borner’s Elephant Head Taxidermy, investigators said.
Federal authorities said the poaching went on for years.
Swart was sentenced this week to 18 months in federal prison for smuggling five hides and three skulls of sport- hunted leopards to Denver.
As part of the plea deal, Swart had agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities probing international poaching and smuggling.
Borner pleaded guilty in March to “attempting to receive and transport” the hides and skulls, a misdemeanor. He could receive up to a year in prison and a fine of $100,000 when he is sentenced. He also is cooperating with authorities.
Federal investigators said that it is legal in South Africa to sport-hunt leopards but only if the outfitter has a hunting permit.
Repeatedly, according to U.S. investigators, Swart and his U.S. clients hunted the leopards without the necessary permits. Among the examples:
In 2002, a South Dakota resident accompanied by Swart shot a leopard on private land in Limpopo province, South Africa.
In 2002, Swart outfitted a second South Dakota resident for a leopard hunt in Limpopo.
In 2003, a Pennsylvania bowhunter, accompanied by a professional hunter employed by Swart, killed a leopard in South Africa.
To circumvent South African authorities and international regulations on the import of leopard hides and skulls, Swart told the U.S. residents to say the animals were killed in Zimbabwe, authorities said.
Federal investigators said that Swart helped not only his clients but also the clients of other South African outfitters smuggle their South African leopard hides and skulls to Denver.
In all the cases, the animal trophies were smuggled by Swart into Zimbabwe and then shipped to Borner in Denver using fraudulent Zimbabwe permits, prosecutors said.
Swart was arrested in the United States on one of his trips promoting his outfitting business in Limpopo, called Trophy Hunting Safaris.
After delivery to Borner’s taxidermy in Denver, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspected and seized the shipments.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
