I have not stayed current with the regulations concerning importation of sport hunted elephant ivory / hide from Zimbabwe. Can these be legally imported these days?

This may help.

https://www.fws.gov/internatio...ons-and-answers.html


It is my understanding that as of last month, you can make application to USFW for a permit. I have not heard of one being granted. It will be interesting to hear if any are ever granted.

You may want to ask your customs broker.

All the best.

quote:

Originally posted by AilsaWheels:
This may help.

https://www.fws.gov/internatio...ons-and-answers.html



It is my understanding that as of last month, you can make application to USFW for a permit. I have not heard of one being granted. It will be interesting to hear if any are ever granted.


You may want to ask your customs broker.

All the best.

Thanks - I did ask my customs broker, and she told me it was legal and that I had to apply for a permit. The website you provided also indicates it is legal, so it may be worth trying - thanks for the info!

Might as well give it a try. The least they're going to tell you is no.

http://www.huntingreport.com/c...ion_force.cfm?id=408



New Elephant Import Regulations By US Fish & Wildlife Service Go Into Effect


Written By John J. Jackson III, Conservation Force Chairman & President
(posted July 2016)




New elephant import regulations by US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) go into effect on July 6, 2016. 81 Fed. Reg. 36388 through 36419, published June 6, 2016. The regulations arise from concern over the international wildlife "trafficking crisis," which peaked several years back. There are three ramifications of these new regulations that are important to hunters and their import/export agents:

Enhancement import permits will be required for CITES Appendix II listed elephant irregardless of when taken.

No more than two elephant trophies can be imported during a calendar year no matter when or where taken.

The new enhancement import permits will bear a "condition" that the ivory never be sold.


The import permit requirement for CITES Appendix II elephant trophies is unprecedented. The elephant of RSA, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana are on CITES Appendix II so no import permit is required under CITES. Nevertheless, they are also listed as "threatened" under the ESA, which is the basis of the new permit requirement. The FWS regulations prior to this change have required the Division of Management Authority (DMA) to make an "enhancement finding" for the import of elephant trophies, but not an import permit. The new permit is an ESA permit, not a CITES permit like that issued for elephant on Appendix I of CITES (e.g., Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique). Although it will create additional paperwork for hunters, this new permit requirement has one administrative benefit. This import permit will eliminate the situation that has existed for Zimbabwe, where the DMA did not have sufficient information on hand to make a positive enhancement finding, but there was no permit denial to administratively appeal and to use to identify and target the FWS' concerns during the permitting process. Now there will be an administrative process and administrative record governed by the Administrative Procedures Act, and the FWS can be held accountable for its determinations or failure to make certain findings.

Those hunters that have already taken elephant in RSA, Namibia and Zimbabwe (countries with elephant that are on Appendix II of CITES) will have to file an import permit application no matter when the elephant were taken if they are being imported after July 6, 2016. For example, elephant taken in Zimbabwe in 2015 and 2016 now need an import permit application if they are ever to be imported. Conservation Force will assist hunters in filing import permit applications for 2015, 2016, and hereafter until those applications are finally denied or approved. We will reference the information we have already submitted and the record we have been building or submit all that information again, going back to the date of the suspension/ban (April 4, 2014). We will not abandon you!

Again, these are ESA "enhancement" permits, not CITES permits. We have long argued with the FWS that Section 9(c)(2) of the ESA exempts CITES Appendix II listed species that are only listed as threatened on the ESA from regulatory requirements such as import permitting. This new elephant regulation is the most extreme disregard of that provision. Earlier instances have been argali and most recently the special rule for African lion that requires ESA enhancement permits.

The 9(c)(2) legal issue aside, there is a positive side to the enhancement requirement, not just for elephant but for lion, argali and black rhino. It is more than a finding that the take of the animal is not detrimental. It is a finding by the DMA and notice to the whole world that the licensed, regulated hunting of elephant, lion, black rhino and argali enhances the survival of those species. When states like New Jersey and airlines like Delta prohibit import or embargo the cargo because of animal rightists' misinformation and legislator ignorance, it is contrary to the public validation of the FWS that these hunting programs are well-managed and benefit the species. Of course, the enhancement finding process can itself serve as a ban, in which case the permit application must be administratively appealed as Conservation Force (and only Conservation Force) laboriously does (and has done for argali, markhor, wood bison, black rhino, elephant, leopard, lion, crocodile, cheetah, black-faced impala, et al.). Enhancement is an ESA statutory mandate for import of "endangered" listed trophies. The FWS administratively imposed its own regulatory requirement for trophies of "threatened" listed game species, but in all instances the underlying benefits are documented and validated to be a tool for conservation. Of course, the permit requirement will provide the permit office an opportunity to deny import permits to applicants that may be disqualified to be issued an import permit, such as known wildlife law violators.



The limit of two elephant trophies per calendar year is also applicable regardless of when taken and in which countries. It applies to all elephant trophy imports regardless of CITES Appendix. Those hunters that for whatever reason take more than two elephant will have to import the excess in a different calendar year. There was a window of 30 days to import more than two before the effective date of the regulation on July 6. The FWS points out that there are limits of two leopard, one black rhino and one markhor per calendar year adopted by the CITES Parties. The FWS limit in this instance is under the ESA, as CITES has no such limit for elephant.

Most of the other new regulations concern ivory and elephant parts other than hunting trophies. Hunting trophies are treated separate and apart. Under CITES, the hunting trophies of Appendix I species cannot be commercially traded. The harvest and import/export are for the personal use of the licensed hunter. Those elephant that have been downlisted to Appendix II were down listed with an "annotation" that it was for the purpose of trophy hunting only (personal use). Hence the FWS has long printed a condition on elephant trophy import permits that no part of the elephant can be sold after import. A knowing violation of that condition is a criminal offense. Now that import permits are required for Appendix II elephant, that same condition will no doubt be added to those new import permits. So, no matter what the regulation is for others, hunters cannot sell their ivory or other parts because of the condition on their import permits. Sale and attempted sale by other members of the public is not prohibited when wholly within a state, but the regulation that applies to hunters is stricter. Both interstate and intrastate commerce is prohibited for elephant hunting trophies and for all parts of the elephant because it is a condition on the face of the import permit. Do not be confused by all the regulations that apply to others. Those that bind the hunter arise from the annotation to the CITES downlisting to Appendix II and the condition on the import permits that is now required of all elephant trophies. Of course, if the trophy was taken before any elephant were on Appendix I of CITES, January 18, 1990, then the intrastate prohibition may not apply. Our conclusion that the "condition" on the face of the permit prohibits all sales, intrastate as well as interstate sale of trophies, is deducted from the facts but be advised that there is no direct statement to that effect for clarification nor has there been one in the past.

At the time of writing this Bulletin, the FWS has not published the new permit application forms. In the Notice they state that the forms will be available before the effective date of the regulation, July 6, 2016. We will let readers know when the forms are in fact available. The permits will cost $100 and require the usual delays. The FWS estimates issuing 300 permits per year, but we presume that is for all elephant trophy import permits combined from all countries and when all countries are approved.

thanks Kathi - I may just give it a go!