HUNT REPORT E-MAIL EXTRA

An Urgent Warning About Leopard Trophies From Namibia


If you have taken a leopard in Namibia and it has not been shipped yet, contact your safari operator immediately to halt the shipment. US Fish & Wildlife Services is confiscating leopard trophies from Namibia. The reason is that Namibia is using a detachable tag that does not meet the technical requirements for shipment of leopards. No one should allow his trophy to be shipped until this problem has been solved.
Leopards must be shipped with a non-detachable tag. Word we have is Namibia simply didn't have - or use - the right kind of tag. Any trophies shipped with detachable tags are subject to seizure. In the past, USF&WS has treated this kind of violation as grounds for permanent seizure of trophies. Their approach is what is called strict liability - this is the same approach TSA takes toward passengers who forget they have a gun and try to go through security - they are presumed guilty. There is no "innocent owner" of an improperly shipped leopard. The leopard is treated as contraband and is seized permanently.
John J. Jackson, III, of Conservation Force (504-837-1233) says he plans to take this to court and attempt to have this procedure changed. Anyone whose leopard has been seized should get in touch with him. The most important thing to do, however, is to stop your shipment immediately.

Excellent advice, but this whole issue is made up and absurd. The USFWS is a bureaucracy run amok.

There is no such thing as a non-detachable tag - just tagging methods and tags that the all-powerful USFWS has approved.

The "approved" tag on my Tanzanian leopard could be removed with a pair of scissors in half a second.

Congress needs to put the reins on these guys, but I won't be holding my breath until that happens.

This is for real, one of my customer's Leopard was confiscated in Houston a few months ago and he doesn't have it back yet. For the same reason Kathi stated.

Thanks for the heads up. I have already contacted my PH to inform him of the issue.

All tags are removable. I wonder if they mean a tag that can not be re-attached after it has been removed.

My Leopard had one of the old metal CITES tags that used to come from Zim in the early 90's. Once you cut it off, there was no way to re-attach it.

Makes you wonder if anti-hunters are running the USF&W???

Why wonder? A friend of mine recently had a coues deer confiscated for similar stupidity. He went to Mexico to hunt. While there was given the opportunity to take a Coues deer in addition to his other trophies. He had all the proper licenses and export permits. The reason the wildlife people confiscated his trophy at the border? His original hunting contract did not list a Coues deer. It didn't matter that all the other paper work was in order. They said the contract had to be re-written. What the hell does that have to do with proper paperwork? Valid license and valid export permits from the country of origin should be appropriate. The fact that he changed his mind and took something extra that was offered has nothing to do with it. These guys for the most part are just trying to do a job and usually do a good one. The problem is it only takes one idiot to screw things up and when that happens unless you are wealthy and politically connected there is no recourse.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
All tags are removable. I wonder if they mean a tag that can not be re-attached after it has been removed.

Wendell, I think you must be right. Nothing else makes sense.

But I just checked my Tanzanian leopard trophy. The tag hanging off the hide is a bright red band with the CITES permit number on it. And it can be easily re-attached if ever it is removed. The red CITES band is itself attached to my leopard with nothing more than a black electrical cable tie!

All I would have to do to remove it would be to cut the cable tie. To reattach it to another leopard, all I would have to do is use another black cable tie. Where was the USFWS when this horrible violation of their rules was allowed into the country?

But wait a minute, if I did remove the tag from my leopard and put it on another one, then my leopard would not have a permit. Wait a minute, maybe I would then just cobble up a counterfeit red tag (thank you, Office Depot or Staples, whichever is closer to my criminal lair) and attach that to my leopard.

Wait a minute, if I were a counterfeiter, then I wouldn't need to go through this process at all. This whole "issue" would be moot!

Wait a minute, why are leopard on CITES Appendix II anyway? No, forget that. Strike that. I realize I have gone way too far into the realm of the rational.

P.S.: Wendell, don't tell anyone about this.

All kidding aside, this warning needs to be taken very seriously, and is one of the many benefits of membership in The Hunting Report.

quote:

Wait a minute, why are leopard on CITES Appendix II anyway? No, forget that. Strike that. I realize I have gone way too far into the realm of the rational.

Now you have really gotten to the heart of the issue.

Mystery Solved....

Sgt Schultz and Colonel Klink were recently hired bu USFWS to check your papers.....

quote:

Sgt Schultz and Colonel Klink were recently hired bu USFWS to check your papers.....

Yes, yes, yes...and their boss is the HSUS/PeTaCheese. And please don't confuse this branch with the Southern branch of People that Eat Tasty Animals!

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
Mystery Solved....

Sgt Schultz and Colonel Klink were recently hired bu USFWS to check your papers.....