Ex-Animal Planet Host Gets Light Sentence For Trafficking Endangered Lizards

The host of a cancelled Animal Planet show called "Wild Recon" has been sentenced to two years' probation, 200 hours of community service and $9,000 in fines for attempting to traffick rare lizards on Facebook in 2010. In November, Donald Schultz, a South African entertainer and wildlife expert, admitted to illegally selling two Iranian desert monitor lizards for $2500 to an undercover federal wildlife agent, violating the Endangered Species Act. A federal agent received the lizards in 2010 in Buffalo, N.Y., and took them into custody.

On "Wild Recon," Schultz would parachute out of planes to extract venom and other rare attributes of some of the world's deadliest animals. He's not the only "Animal Planet" host under fire lately -- just this week, new evidence was found to support allegations of animal mistreatment on the production set of "Call of the Wildman," a "guided reality" show on the network.

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