Ivory Keys banned?

[Jason Kanter]

>From the web http://www.hsus.org/ace/15476:

In 1989, the international trade in ivory from African elephants was banned
by the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the treaty that governs much of the
international trade in plants and animals. International trade in Asian
elephant ivory had already been banned in 1975. Before the 1989 ban, CITES
had tried to regulate and control the ivory trade. It couldn't. By 1989, it
was estimated that 90% of ivory in the so-called legal trade was from
poached elephants. It was clear that a legal ivory trade was a death
sentence to elephants. Individual nations passed laws to implement that ban.
The Legal Trade

In the United States, African and Asian elephants are protected by the
Endangered Species Act and the Asian and African Elephant Conservation Acts.
But each year the U.S. government allows the legal import of thousands of
elephant ivory objects, mostly in the form of carvings, but also as jewelry,
unworked pieces, piano keys, hunting trophies, and individual tusks. Legally
imported ivory was valued at an average of $164.8 million per year between
1997–2001.

Why does the ivory trade flourish in the United States? One reason is that
U.S. ivory trade laws are confusing and riddled with loopholes. You may
import elephant ivory classified as "antique" (more than 100 years in age)
if you can produce documentation proving the ivory's age.

You may import elephant ivory legally acquired before February 4, 1977. You
may sell domestically any African elephant ivory legally acquired and
imported before June 1989. You may import ivory from an African elephant in
the form of a hunting trophy, but (as of 1990) you are not allowed then to
sell the ivory. Dealers who sell ivory domestically do not have to register,
nor must they report sales. Even the Office of Law Enforcement of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the agency charged with intercepting
illegally imported ivory, agrees that the law regarding hunting
trophies—hundreds of which are imported each year—is unclear.


..........
.  jason kanter . jason.kanter@wamu.net . jkanter@rollingball.com
.  vp/manager . learning & performance development
.  consumer loan servicing . washington mutual bank
.  office 206 490 6708 . cell 425 830 1561
...............................

----- Original Message -----
From: "pianolover 88" <pianolover88@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 8:31 PM
Subject: Ivory Keys banned?


> does anyone know about what year Ivory keys in the US were officially
> banned? Thanks
>
>
> Terry Peterson
>
>
>
>
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