General Warning to Hobbyists & Others Who Sell Wild Animal Product Cross-Border

[artificer]

Mods- if you feel this would be more helpful in another part of the forum, please feel free to move it. It effects more than a few DIYers, as well as registered businesses.

After a very stressful week dealing with US Fish & Wildlife I have a few "Heads Up" pieces of advice for our forum hobbyists and registered businesses who deal across the US border.

ANY part of ANY non-domesticated (farm) animal falls under the jurisdiction of US Fish & Wildlife.

ANY Part.

Bone or horn handles on knives or as buttons or pins.

Any fur, leather, claw or feather from animals other than farm/domestic animals (being cow, horse, sheep, goat, or pig) falls under their jurisdiction.

They regulate and have sole control (above and beyond US CUSTOMS) to inspect these products.

I know this because I've spent the last week clearing up the paperwork and filing for the appropriate license when a random customs check opened a fur sporran and sent it to USF&W.

They were very polite and helpful, but the process still ended up taking a week. As I said, they were quite helpful, and I didn't incur any fines (probably because it was clearly labeled on the Customs form- so it's pretty obvious I wasn't trying to smuggle it) nor did they impound/confiscate the piece.
In fact, it was probably one of the smoothest interactions I've had with the Federal Government where paperwork is concerned.

There is an annual Import/Export License that needs to be obtained ($100), and your product must be shipped to one of their ports of clearance for inspection (which also costs $93US as of Jan01 2012).

This applies to incoming materials as well. The only exception is for personal use. Obviously I don't need to get into the legal ramifications of declaring an item a "Gift" in order to dodge Customs, Tariffs, or Inspections.

I'm not a lawyer, so please don't take any of this as "Legal" advice, but as an experience to learn from so you don't make the same mistake. If you charge for your product and ship it across the US border, whether or not you are a licensed business or "just a guy", this applies to you.

Hopefully you can use this warning to help determine if or how you choose to sell across borders.

Cheers
ith:

[creagdhubh]

Good information, Scott. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Cheers,

[Burly Brute]

That's actually pretty interesting. It seems a bit intense when we consider other areas of government that are pretty slack, but I can see to some degree why these measures are in place. Thanks for the heads up!

[Drac]

Knife makers have been running into that issue for a while. We get the complication when the term fossil is added. Fossil being things that died in nature such as walrus and mammoth. Most of the time for sea mammel the are collected through Native tribes legally and sold but it can add a nightmare to the process. Many makers won't ship overseas because of it or restict their offerings for overseas.

Even have issues sometimes with wood. Desrt ironwood is a protected species.

Jim

[artificer]

That's actually pretty interesting. It seems a bit intense when we consider other areas of government that are pretty slack, but I can see to some degree why these measures are in place. Thanks for the heads up!

I get that the regulations are there for a reason, and that it's a good reason. My only real beef with it is the fees. It's the same $93 fee if I ship a single box or a shipping pallet FULL of stuff. So it really penalizes the little guy who's "inspection" might take all of 30 seconds.

Knife makers have been running into that issue for a while. We get the complication when the term fossil is added. Fossil being things that died in nature such as walrus and mammoth. Most of the time for sea mammel the are collected through Native tribes legally and sold but it can add a nightmare to the process. Many makers won't ship overseas because of it or restict their offerings for overseas.

Even have issues sometimes with wood. Desrt ironwood is a protected species.

Jim

Yup. The agent said as much. That was actually her first suggestion (that I simply cancel the order). It's not possible for me, as this piece was custom ordered, and I have several orders in the queue that would also fall under their jurisdiction.

ith:

[Dale-of-Cedars]

Also be aware that the same things can apply on the other side of the border as well - see my thread about bringing a coyote fur sporran across the border into Canada. Canada Customs shunted my parcel to Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Division.

Shipping Fur Sporrans internationally

I got lucky, as the Wildlife Enforcement Division could have required me to get all the paperwork from the US side, just like Artificer describes, but they had pity on me because I documented the purchase up the whazoo.

Moral-of-the-story: Buy your road-kill at home!

[artificer]

Also be aware that the same things can apply on the other side of the border as well - see my thread about bringing a coyote fur sporran across the border into Canada. Canada Customs shunted my parcel to Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Division.

Shipping Fur Sporrans internationally

I got lucky, as the Wildlife Enforcement Division could have required me to get all the paperwork from the US side, just like Artificer describes, but they had pity on me because I documented the purchase up the whazoo.

Moral-of-the-story: Buy your road-kill at home!

Excellent point, Dale!

Despite it being a personal purchase, there are a number of restrictions in place (C.I.T.E.S. treaties and the US Marine Mammals Act) that bar, without special permit, the transportation of certain species across borders, or in some cases certain species even IN country.

It's best to make sure anything you buy and plan to transport meets code and is documented as to specie. Even California and a few other states have specific statues on what can be shipped in.

ith:

[warrior]

On the in country. Both our north american bobcat and river otter are CITES regulated. As a trapper I am required to obtain a CITES tag from my state Dept of Natural Resources and fix it to the harvested pelt of any CITES species I either offer for sell or export across my own state line. This tag must then remain attached for the life of the pelt or until finished into it's final product. So if you wish to purchase such an item from your local trapper please be aware. There have even been cases where trappers have shipped there own pelts to a processor for tanning, ie not sold or offered for sale just to keep as a personal momento, these trappers had the pelts confiscated upon arrival at the tannery for failure to afix the tags.