One of the biggest changes in the new Fish and Wildlife internal regulations for CITES wildlife is the definition of the term “trophyâ€. Proposed regulation changes have been floating around since May of 2000. In spite of the many comments in response to the Federal Register Notices, objecting to these changes, the Fish and Wildlife Service saw fit to put into place the wording they have been proposing for nearly 8 years. The effective date was 09-24-07.

According to Fish and Wildlife the term “hunting trophy†no longer includes any “utilitarian†object manufactured from the animal, such as jewelry, elephant hair bracelets, clothing, boots, gun cases, purses, etc.
Those items have to be coded as a “P†for “personal†use only. However, the caveat here is whether the animal carries a CITES I or CITES II or III designation and if there is any special annotations tied to that animal.

CITES I animals such as Leopard often have the floating bones or claws manufactured into jewelry like a necklace or capped to use as charms for a bracelet. Because there would not be a separate US Import or Export Permit coded with a “P†the claws would have to remain in the pad of the paw. The regulations specify how Appendix I trophies and parts can be used after import. They can only be used for primarily non-commercial purposes and any condition or limitation the Service places on the face of the import permit must be honored.

The biggest animal affected is African Elephant. There is an annotation to the CITES listing that the only items allowable to be made up for export are elephant skins and certified Ekipas (a type of necklace that is considered folk-art). Therefore, if you have paid to have gun bags, boots, wastebaskets, etc. made up from the elephant you legally sport-hunted you will not be able to import it to the United States. When I questioned one FWS employee regarding this; knowing that hunters only have these made up for personal use and not resale, I was told there was no way FWS could guarantee that the made-up article actually came from the specific elephant hunted. Many countries consider the making up of these items to be one of their principal livelihoods. With the enforcement of these regulations they will face an even direr state than they presently do.

We at Coppersmith are working with Conservation Force, Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, Safari Club International and the Dallas Safari Club in an attempt to get final clarification from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Our e-mails sent to the Law Enforcement Division of FWS dated August 30th, seeking clarification, have not been responded to. The regulations make it quite clear that any item imported contrary to CITES becomes “contraband†at the time of the import, thus there is no custodial or property rights to it by the importer.

John Jackson of Conservation Force pointed out in a recent article “Just because it is a final regulation does not make it a legal regulation, particularly if it does not have a basis in law, is arbitrary or capricious, or is contrary to CITES.

We will attempt to keep you updated as to any major developments.

What will the big thinkers at F&W come up with next?

Carol: Thank you for this most important update. Please keep us further informed on the progress that is being made in this area, as many of us have contemplated or are contemplating having things made up from our trophies. This regulation that they have been pushing for 8 years is ridiculous at best and really will hurt the hunting industry and hunters in general who want to have items made from their elephant. What about the floating bones from lions? Same as the leopard? As to no guarantee that the elephant leather came from your elephant, all they would have to do is stamp it or identify it with the correct and applicable Cities number on each item made using the leather or animal parts. How hard is that?

Looks like this may be the notice of the regulation: http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/07-3960.pdf

I say "may be" because it is LOOOONNNNGGGG and I did not read the whole thing.

From what I did read, though, is there is some good news - feces seems to be exempted from the restrictions...

Can you still bring in elephant-hair bracelets from a CITES elephant?

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
Can you still bring in elephant-hair bracelets from a CITES elephant?

The three layer foam in a gun case was invented so that your guns do not get damaged and also so that you do not need the answer to this question.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:

The three layer foam in a gun case was invented so that your guns do not get damaged and also so that you do not need the answer to this question.

JPK

I'm am just too rule-driven for that.

/

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

Circular long lens camera cases keep your zoom lens pretty safe too. Also enclose the lens in a sealed plastic bag to keep moisture out.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunting TrophyQueen:
CITES I animals such as Leopard often have the floating bones or claws manufactured into jewelry like a necklace or capped to use as charms for a bracelet..

So just remove it later if it belongs inside the animal. Make the jewelry afterwards.

quote:

if you have paid to have gun bags, boots, wastebaskets, etc. made up from the elephant you legally sport-hunted you will not be able to import it to the United States. When I questioned one FWS employee regarding this; knowing that hunters only have these made up for personal use and not resale, I was told there was no way FWS could guarantee that the made-up article actually came from the specific elephant hunted.

How can these puss-knuckles prove that for any trophy?!

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
Can you still bring in elephant-hair bracelets from a CITES elephant?

No Sir you cannot.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunting Trophy Queen:

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
Can you still bring in elephant-hair bracelets from a CITES elephant?

No Sir you cannot.

Thanks for the response.

I guess you salt the entire tail, bring it in, and then import the trackers to knot the bracelets...

Just get your trackers wife to braid your Elephant hair into Dred locks. With today's human oddities arriving on every flight, no one would pay any attention. Ja Meesta Custum's Mon!

I tend to agree with Charles Helm in these matters. That being said and I suppose not knowing any better, my elephant hair braclet was worn during my return and still resides upon my wrist to date. We were at a USVI Government function last week and we shared a table with the chief panty sniffer(Customs) officer where we talked about hunting, trophies, our trophy room, etc. and upon admiring my bracelet made no mention of the fact I was a scofflaw.

quote:

The biggest animal affected is African Elephant. There is an annotation to the CITES listing that the only items allowable to be made up for export are elephant skins and certified Ekipas (a type of necklace that is considered folk-art). Therefore, if you have paid to have gun bags, boots, wastebaskets, etc. made up from the elephant you legally sport-hunted you will not be able to import it to the United States. When I questioned one FWS employee regarding this; knowing that hunters only have these made up for personal use and not resale, I was told there was no way FWS could guarantee that the made-up article actually came from the specific elephant hunted. Many countries consider the making up of these items to be one of their principal livelihoods. With the enforcement of these regulations they will face an even direr state than they presently do.

DNA has been used in Alberta in a couple of cases here where intestines from a moose were used to prove that "hunters" poached a moose in a WMU where they were not licenced to hunt, why couldn't the same be done from items made in Africa to prove they are from the same trophy.

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
Can you still bring in elephant-hair bracelets from a CITES elephant?

The three layer foam in a gun case was invented so that your guns do not get damaged and also so that you do not need the answer to this question.

JPK

Sniff...that is correct. I have heard it works for tuskless too.

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck32:

quote:

The biggest animal affected is African Elephant. There is an annotation to the CITES listing that the only items allowable to be made up for export are elephant skins and certified Ekipas (a type of necklace that is considered folk-art). Therefore, if you have paid to have gun bags, boots, wastebaskets, etc. made up from the elephant you legally sport-hunted you will not be able to import it to the United States. When I questioned one FWS employee regarding this; knowing that hunters only have these made up for personal use and not resale, I was told there was no way FWS could guarantee that the made-up article actually came from the specific elephant hunted. Many countries consider the making up of these items to be one of their principal livelihoods. With the enforcement of these regulations they will face an even direr state than they presently do.

DNA has been used in Alberta in a couple of cases here where intestines from a moose were used to prove that "hunters" poached a moose in a WMU where they were not licenced to hunt, why couldn't the same be done from items made in Africa to prove they are from the same trophy.

The only time I have seen FWS revert to DNA testing is to make sure that the two tusks arriving with the remainder of the elephant did in fact belong to that trophy.

Does this effect bags and gun cases made from elephants from Zim, and stuff made from non elephants like Zebra and Giraffe, also from Zim?

quote:

Originally posted by Hunting Trophy Queen:

quote:
Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
Can you still bring in elephant-hair bracelets from a CITES elephant?


No Sir you cannot.

I hope they don't make that ruling retroactive. If so, then I want everyone to know that I only rented that elephant hair bracelet I was wearing for photo shoots and that I gave it back to that Himba missy.

Namibiahunter

It sound like Mugabe is running your game department. and they call it democracy. i think they are "lekker deur die kak"

There is no doubt, SATAN = BUREAUCRAT !!!!!

The truth is that bureaucracy is so bad and so prevalent, that we

can not, as so called civilized people, imagine a world without it!