A man was sentenced Monday to three months in federal prison for shooting, killing and mutilating a protected northern elephant seal on the Central California coast near San Simeon.

Prosecutors say that 30-year-old Jordan Gerbich did not kill the seal “by accident or on a whim,” explaining that Gerbich and a friend brought a handgun to the beach where the animals are known to rest and used a flashlight to find the animal.

Gerbich drove to the elephant seal viewing area near the Piedras Blancas Marine Reserve and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on Sept. 28, 2019. He fatally shot a seal that was resting on the beach using a .45-caliber pistol, “as a kind of grotesque test,” after his intoxicated friend encouraged him to kill the marine mammal, said prosecutors.

The seal was found on the beach with a bullet hole in its head and its tail fins cut off and cut open, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A Los Angeles federal judge also sentenced Gerbich to a year of supervised release after his prison term, three months of home detention, 120 hours of community service and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Gerbich, who lived in Santa Maria at the time and now lives in Coalville, Utah, pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor count of illegally taking a marine mammal, the U.S. attorney said.

Northern elephant seals are massive animals found along North America’s Pacific coast and are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They haul out on beach areas known as rookeries. The species nearly became extinct in the early 1900s due to commercial hunting, with numbers recovering in the decades since.

The animals’ main threat from human interaction now comes from being struck by ships and getting tangled in fishing gear, according to NOAA.

The prosecution sentencing memorandum said the motive remained unclear, but argues Gerbich knew it was wrong.

Source: https://www.sfgate.com/