Heading to Zim in October, I do know you can’t bring tusks back but I’d like tomapply for CITES just in case
What’s the scoop on that and how do I go about it?

Milan,

Contact John Jackson with Conservation Force CF@conservation force.org He has helped lots of people with applying for their permits.

Mark

https://www.fws.gov/forms/3-200-20.pdf


Link to elephant import application.

I don't think that's accurate. You don't know that you can't bring your tusks back. Nobody knows period.

1.) The last word from USFWS published in the Federal Register is "they will review those hunted through end of 2018 on a case-by-case basis". "Further updates will be published for 2019".

2.) No further updates have been published. You are in no-man's land.

3.) No "case by case" review has occurred for 2018. They are all sitting in a big pile at USFWS. Trump might review after his re-election, but he's not going to do diddly until then as its a hot-button issue.

So what you have to do: write the world's greatest essay.

a.) Define the abundance of elephant in the area you hunt. Demonstrate that hunting elephant is beneficial to the local population of elephant.

b.) Identify financial benefits to the local community through your financial support. Same for the PH. Same for the staff. Same for the outfitter. Same for the booking agent.

c.) Define how the hunt benefited the issue of animal-human conflict.

d.) Demonstrate the local approval and legality.

e.) Demonstrate the sources and uses of all funds paid.

f.) show that no criminal enterprise benefited anyone in the chain of the funds.

g.) show charitable work and funding that was provided through the experience. (e.g. money for bore holes, roads, schools, hospitals, clinics)

h.) Show how the food provided through the hunt benefited the local community.

No offense but the factors a-h are what the hunting organizations, Outfitters l, and booking agents should have been gathering and disimanating all along.

Hard numbers for the local population being hunted. This is the math no one has to combat anti hunters.

The talking points of “hunting is conservation”, kill one save a hundred (Shockey’s favorite line), hunter’s dollars support the local community, and citing generally to Kenya are too easily dismissed as propaganda. These talking points are not empirical data which is what we need.

quote:

Originally posted by Rookhawk:
I don't think that's accurate. You don't know that you can't bring your tusks back. Nobody knows period.

3.) No "case by case" review has occurred for 2018. They are all sitting in a big pile at USFWS. Trump might review after his re-election, but he's not going to do diddly until then as its a hot-button issue.

So what you have to do: write the world's greatest essay.

a.) Define the abundance of elephant in the area you hunt. Demonstrate that hunting elephant is beneficial to the local population of elephant.

b.) Identify financial benefits to the local community through your financial support. Same for the PH. Same for the staff. Same for the outfitter. Same for the booking agent.

c.) Define how the hunt benefited the issue of animal-human conflict.

d.) Demonstrate the local approval and legality.

e.) Demonstrate the sources and uses of all funds paid.

f.) show that no criminal enterprise benefited anyone in the chain of the funds.

g.) show charitable work and funding that was provided through the experience. (e.g. money for bore holes, roads, schools, hospitals, clinics)

h.) Show how the food provided through the hunt benefited the local community.

If you want to submit an ivory permit application, take the easiest and surest route and have John Jackson file the permit application for you, he has done hundreds and will submit all of the enhancement findings needed for approval, all for free.
I know from a meeting at USFWS in Washington, DC that some of the applications submitted in early 2018 have been reviewed and some were supposedly approved...but USFWS will not issue the permit. If USFWS were to ssue a permit under the current conditions the director would probably be looking for a new job the next day.
So, currently you wont be able to bring ivory back to the states but I'm optomistic that situation will change in the future.

Absolutely a stellar idea contacting conservation force. They are doing an amazing job with pro-bono services to build compelling applications at present. Add to that, they are potentially going to file suit to compel the USWFS to follow the law. They charge nothing for these services and representation, although the fair market value of what they are doing is easily several thousand dollars. Consider using them for representation and consider donating to offset these incredible free services they provide.