(WHDH) — A judge sentenced a man to three months in federal prison Monday for fatally shooting a northern elephant seal in the head as it rested on a beach near San Simeon, California.
Jordan Gerbich, 30, drove to an elephant seal viewing area adjacent to the Piedras Blancas Marine Reserve and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on Sept. 28, 2019, and used a .45-caliber pistol to shoot and kill the seal resting on the beach in the Piedras Blancas rookery, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The seal was discovered dead on the beach the next day with a bullet hole in its head, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Gerbich pleaded guilty in December 2020 to one misdemeanor count of illegally taking a marine mammal.
Following his three-month prison sentence, Gerbich will be placed on one year supervised release, serve a three-month term of home detention, perform 120 hours of community service, and pay a $1,000 fine.
Northern elephant seals are a protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
They live up and down North America’s Pacific coast and haul out on land in areas called rookeries.
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