Alaskan walrus hunter gets three years

One of five men accused of killing 27 walruses for their tusks near Gambell, Alaska was sentenced last week to three years in prison.

Daniel P. Apassingok, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of unlawfully taking a walrus.

Along with four others, Apassingok was charged with shooting the walruses from a herd of about 150 animals about 19 miles from Gambell on May 21, 2003.

The men are also charged with selling the ivory and transporting the illegally taken walrus.

Federal law allows Alaska natives to hunt walruses for subsistence and use the ivory for limited purposes, but it is illegal to take or sell the ivory if the meat is not used.

In this case, the five men took 27 heads and 15 walrus calves.

“I don’t want the message to be, ‘If I’m a hunter and I had a felony and I’m out for walrus, I get a pass,’” the judge told the court. “The message should be to villagers and people in Anchorage, ‘If you have a prior felony that precludes you from having a weapon, you shouldn’t have a weapon.’”